Conversations in Silence
by Stryder2008
Summary: The road to recovery isn't easy for Danny Williams. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he blocks Danny out. But when enforcers & gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only. Sequel: Words can Kill
1. Alone in a Crowd

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter One :**

 _Alone in a Crowd_

The air was unseasonably hot and Detective Danny Williams was uncomfortable as hell. Wind wafted through the tops of the palm trees and his hair slipped forward into his eyes. Danny still hadn't been in the office yet, not that he didn't want to go back to work, but the governor wasn't letting him anywhere near Five-0 headquarters until Dr. Kakoi cleared him and that didn't seem likely to happen for another couple of weeks. In the first few days he'd been out of the hospital, no one had left him alone for more than twenty minutes at a time. Grace had been a constant presence along with Kono and sometimes Rachel.

It had been frustrating and Danny had eventually asked for some 'alone time'. Chin had simply raised his eyebrows in surprise and Kono had chuckled. He'd glared at her until his head hurt and Grace had asked he meant her? Danny had explained that he most definitely did _not_ mean that his little monkey should leave. That garnered him a cheeky grin from his daughter and another fantastic piece of art for Steve's fridge.

The New Jersey cop had been out of the hospital for three weeks and his emotionally stunted partner, Lieutenant Commander Steven J. McGarrett had spent the majority of that time surfing or swimming or generally ignoring Danny. So not only was the detective dealing with an insufferable amount of pain, he had no one to help take his mind off it after the first week. His ex-wife had taken their daughter to the main land to visit family, leaving him alone. Although, to be fair? Rachel had assumed that Steve would keep Danny company…only that hadn't happened. He still couldn't pin point when things had changed. When he'd agreed to stay with Steve, he'd thought they were just fine, thank you very much.

Originally, Danny had thought that staying with Steve would help heal the rift between them. And it kinda had…at first. But then Steve had pulled back into the shell that the ex-navy SEAL used to protect himself. And if he was perfectly honest with himself, Danny had kinda understood. But that hadn't made living in the vast _silence_ of the McGarrett house easier.

Since then, Danny had had no one to confide in. It was a horrible feeling. After the first night, he'd wanted to talk to his partner about the slicing pain that kept waking him up. But Steve had checked out, emotionally, and he'd been left to deal with it on his own.

He winced as he moved slowly toward the two wooden chairs that faced the incoming tide. As much as Danny hated Hawaii, _and he did hate Hawaii_ , the ocean was 'alright' to sit and stare at. He set down his glass of water and recalled the first the day he'd gotten to the island four years ago and then promptly gotten lost. _How the hell can a 'cop' get lost on an island?_ The thought bounced around inside Danny's head making it hurt, he blinked a couple times and ignored the now constant pain.

Getting lost hadn't been the worst thing to happen to him. Danny had ended up pulling out onto an overlook area and sitting for hours just staring out at the vast blue of the ocean. It was the only time he'd been able to feel like this might be okay. _The whole moving to an island smaller than the entire city he'd grown up in…thing, that is._ Carefully, he lowered himself into the wooden beach chair and bit at his lower lip when his ribs pinched painfully in protest, but it wasn't nearly as bad as his back. At least his ribs felt like they'd healed somewhat. But his back?

It felt like someone had just slipped a dull butter knife into his spine. His breathing hitched and there was a moment where his vision actually blurred at the edges. Danny forced himself to endure the pain through sheer stubbornness of will. There was a suspicious burning sensation behind his eyes as he blinked rapidly to dispel the forming tears.

"Danny?" Steve's voice pulled him from his world of blurry pain and he looked up. The detective caught the end of something 'emotional' in his friend's blue-green gaze before Steve's _wall_ dropped firmly into place. "You okay, buddy?" The taller man asked.

Ocean water was dripping down the SEAL's face as he grabbed a towel swiping it across his skin. He was breathing hard, like he'd just swum fifteen miles. _Which he may have actually done for all I know._ Danny thought ruefully. He pulled in a shallow ragged breath and nodded, before leaning back and settling carefully against the chair. The solid support of the wood helped to alleviate some of his pain and he glanced up at the taller man.

"Just waiting on my personal chef to show up." He quipped.

Steve tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Kamekona's it is."

Danny groaned. They'd been eating so much shrimp lately that he could actually taste it when he brushed his teeth. "No. Absolutely not, Steven. There will be no more shrimp tacos , spaghetti, pancakes…worst idea ever, by the way…or shrimp omelets. And last night we had some concoction of shrimp meatloaf. I mean seriously. Who puts shrimp in meatloaf? And before you interrupt me, let me assure that there is such a thing as too much _shrimp_."

He'd hoped that his rant would earn him at least a smile from his friend, but all he got was a wry grimace. Danny felt his stomach drop at the evidence that Steve still hadn't worked through whatever was holding him back.

Steve nodded and started toward the house. "Pizza? I promise I won't let them put shrimp on it." When Danny didn't immediately answer he glanced over his shoulder. Danny was staring out at the ocean, his back to Steve. "Or pineapple…Danny? Pizza?" Steve knew that Danny was keeping something from him and he was so tired of being lied to by the people he loves that he can't take it from Danny. Not the one person that has always been completely and one hundred percent honest with him... Danny finally answers him and it does nothing to assuage Steve's anger.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

H50 H50

Three Weeks ago…

 _Steve watched as Danny limped through the doors of his home and finally managed to settle quietly on the couch. A shuddered breath slipped past the detective's lips and he'd squeezed his eyes shut in pain. The knife of guilt twisted a little deeper inside Steve and he found that he had to get out that room. Just for a minute. He wasn't leaving Danny alone or anything, but watching his best friend suffer was more than Steve could handle right now._

" _I'm gonna grab some water." He didn't wait for the injured man to respond before striding quickly into the kitchen and then straight out the back door. And if his eyes burned with tears? He told himself that it was because his own gunshot wound was particularly painful today._

 _The sun was just starting to set when he forced himself back into the living room. Danny was lying sprawled out on the couch, his arms wrapped protectively around his middle and his head tilted at an uncomfortable angle. The television was on and an old John Wayne movie was playing softly._

 _Steve took a moment to try and think of how long he'd been gone…at least an hour he figured when he saw the location of the sun in the sky. He hadn't meant to be gone that long. Guilt wasn't new to the SEAL, but he'd never learned to handle it all that well. He was still carrying the massive black hole of guilt that his father's death had left on his soul._

 _Chin had offered to pick Danny up when he'd been discharged, but Steve couldn't do that. Even though he and Danny had talked about what had happened and he felt that the detective no longer blamed him for his outburst of angry words…watching the smaller man writhe in pain hadn't let Steve actually forgive 'himself'._

" _You done staring at me, Steven? Or should I take out a restraining order?" Danny's pain laced voice startled Steve out of his revelations and he shook his head. Blue eyes peaked out between slitted eyelids and the smaller man forced a tight smile. "Find that water?"_

 _Steve looked away. "Sorry. I needed to run to the store…for the water."_

" _Steve. It's alright." Danny finally said softly._

 _The easy forgiveness in his partner's voice had Steve pinching at the bridge of his nose in frustration. This wasn't Danny's fault at this point; it was his own inability to let it go. It was obvious, looking at the open expression on his partner's face that the detective wasn't holding a grudge._

 _Danny's tongue shot out and he licked his lips and for the first time Steve noticed the dry, chapped sheen to his friends face. "You need some water."_

" _Any chance I can get that today?" Danny called after Steve headed into the kitchen again. He pulled in a long breath and pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge._

H50 H50

Danny bit at this lower lip and nodded slowly. He looked up at his friend and found himself wishing for the days where they at least argued. "Yeah, just turned wrong. How's the water?"

Steve shrugged. His own wound pulled sending light pain through his shoulder and he frowned. "Wet."

Danny blinked and his eyebrow's cut down in response. "Steven, you do know the ocean is water and therefore likely to be wet this time of year?"

"I'm aware." Steve answered without taking the bait. "I'm gonna grab a shower. You need anything before I go in?"

Danny could feel the disappointment coiling in his gut when Steve didn't engage in their normal banter. He'd known that they weren't out of the woods when he'd been released from the hospital. But he'd had no clue just how far they were from 'okay' until he'd slept in his friend's house for several days. Life hadn't been kind to either one of them since that day up on the mountain.

The lead to the lower receiver units had actually panned out and Steve along with HPD, Chin, and Kono had managed to recover the guns. Chin had come to visit Danny while Steve had been at a meeting with the Governor and he'd told the missing member of Five-0 everything he'd missed out on…which hadn't been much. The whole thing had gone off without a shot being fired.

He learned that the man that Danny had killed on the mountain had been the younger brother of a high-ranking Yakuza boss. The other man was part of the Russian Mafia and they'd been trying to move up inside their own mafias by finding a new supplier in the gun trade. Neither of their deaths had gone unnoticed by the two groups, but so far nothing had come of it. Danny was smart enough to realize that there was a chance that that could change, but for now…they were all okay.

Pulling himself back to the present, he answered the SEAL's question. "No. I don't need anything." Danny said evenly.

Steve nodded and started toward the house.

Danny twisted carefully so he could see the other man's back and he found he couldn't stop the frown that worked its way onto his face.

H50 H50

 _Two Weeks Later…_

Danny sat on the cold metal examination table of yet another doctor. He ignored the dull radiating ache that was now a constant presence in his life. His broken arm was healing nicely. The hair was coming back in where his head had been drilled into…that had sucked. He was still having some trouble with headaches, but the doctors had said that was normal because of the severity of his concussion. _They should go away soon_. His lungs were still healing from the collapse and he couldn't take a full deep breath yet, but he was so much closer than he'd been two weeks ago…so he'd take it.

Kono had driven him this time. Steve had offered, but there was so much _silence_ between them that it was making Danny crazy. So he'd politely declined and called Kono. She'd been surprised, but happy to help out. A part of Danny was sure that he could've called Rachel, since she, Stan, and Grace were back, if he'd needed to.

 _That thought_ sent a wave of emotional pain sliding through him. Dealing with his ex-wife was less stressful right now than dealing with his best friend on the Island…maybe anywhere.

"Detective Williams?" A middle-aged man in a white coat and a suit stepped into the room. Danny assumed he must be the doctor.

"Danny, please." He answered easily with a slight smile.

The man smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. The doctor glanced down at the paperwork in his hands. "It says here that you're experiencing some discomfort in the L4 and L5 area of the spine?"

Danny's eyes widened at the very technical question. "My back hurts like a bitch, but I have no idea if it's in the L…whatever you called it."

The man didn't even crack a smile and something triggered Danny's detective 'spidey' skills. "Uh huh…and do you think this has anything to do with the man you killed out on Wai Lecka Pass five weeks ago?"

"What? How do you… Who the hell are you?" Danny said quickly. The man set down the file and hummed in frustration.

"I suppose my cover's blown." He slipped into a Russian accent, though he was definitely Asian. "That is what you cops call it? When someone understands that they're in trouble?"

Danny clenched his teeth and reached slowly for his cell phone. Kono had dropped him off and headed out to run some other errands. In a flash of movement, Danny found himself staring down the barrel of a flat black Sig-Sauer .45. He slowly pulled his hand back and lifted both of his hands in surrender. Even if the Jersey detective wanted to do something, he couldn't. Danny was effectively sidelined by his still healing injuries.

"Throw over the phone, detective." The man tilted the pistol at Danny's pants pocket.

"I'm generally pretty good with faces. I did have a concussion a few weeks ago, so maybe I've forgotten you?" Danny's eyes narrowed. "But I don't think so. Generally, I remember scumbags pretty clearly. Particularly those that threaten me."

The man stepped forward and removed the lab coat. Underneath he was wearing a six thousand dollar suit… _definitely mafia._ Danny managed to pull his wallet out at the same time as his phone, rather than simply tossing his phone, he pretended to drop it and pushed his wallet off the back of the exam table onto the floor. "You're very funny, detective." The man stepped forward and hauled back, slamming the butt of his pistol into Danny's face. "I'd heard that about you."

Pain blossomed across Danny's cheekbone and he felt the warm rush of blood as long split opened up. His head exploded in agony and Danny had to lean forward so he didn't puke. After a moment he managed to look up. The man's face swam in and out of focus. "You been watching me, untouchable?"

The man circled him and stomped on the cell phone before picking it up and dropping it into the sink. He ran water over the phone and finally answered Danny's question. "You, McGarrett, the rest of Five-0…oh, and little Grace…and your ex-wife has another child, right? A boy?"

At the mention of his daughter and Charlie, Danny's eyes flashed up. Lightning flared in the blue depths as a cold rage coiled inside his gut like a pit viper. "You touch my daughter and I will kill you." The words were low and even. The threat was very clear.

"I'm more interested in making your partner suffer than you." He leaned in and pressed his hand into Danny's ribcage. The blonde couldn't help the shuddering breath as pain lanced through him. The man knew exactly where to press. The still healing scar where he'd had his ribs surgically separated and the chest tube shoved between them. When he looked down he was surprised to see a small blade being pulled from his body…bloody drops slipping easily from the five-inch blade. "The men you and your partner killed? I've been sent to settle that score."

Before Danny could answer. A needle slid into his neck and he felt his world spiral down into a pinpoint of light then nothing but darkness. His last thought was for Grace. If these people were after him and McGarrett? Maybe they'd be satisfied with just him leaving his daughter and partner out of it. _Take care of Grace, Steven._

H50 H50

Steve was so damn aggravated that he couldn't see straight. Danny had had an appointment this morning and rather than asking _him_ to give the busted up cop a ride? That irritating Jersey detective had called Kono. _What the hell, Danny?_ He'd been trying to talk to his partner more and be less evasive when Danny asked him about what was happening with the task force. But apparently that hadn't been good enough for the smaller blonde man. Nope. He'd needed to dig that knife deeper into the back of the SEAL and call their teammate, _behind Steve's back_ , to take him to the damn back doctor. It was so frustrating that Steve couldn't help but slam the palm of his hand into the steering wheel.

"Damn-it, Danny!" He seethed.

Fifteen minutes later, Steve was banging on the door of the exam room where the nurse had said Danny was. When his partner didn't immediately call out for him to enter, Steve shoved the door open anyway.

"Danny, seriously man. If you needed to go to—" Steve was already chewing out the smaller man before he could see into the room. He pulled up short when he found that it was empty. "Danny?" His eyes shifted to the small dressing area. "Danno, come on man."

Nothing. No response from the small dressing room off to the right and there was definitely no Detective Danny Williams hiding under the solid metal table. Steve leaned back out into the hallway and looked both ways. It was empty. He was already pulling his phone out to call Kono when he saw the bright red smear on the metal table. Sitting next to the busted pieces of Danny's white cast. Someone had cracked the thing open and pulled apart the white cast, leaving a nasty reminder of Danny's still healing state.

A sick cold feeling started worming its way through Steve's gut. Something _bad_ had happened in this room…and it had happened to Danny.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Here's the start of the sequel…shoot me a quick review if you guys are interested in seeing where this one goes. I know there's still a rift between Steve and Danny, but this one is going to put them in a situation where it will heal through working together in order to survive._

 **PLEASE REVIEW: Let me know if you're interested in seeing this one play out.**


	2. Without a Trace

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter Two:**

 _Without a Trace_

Detective Daniel "Danno" Williams 'hated' to be knocked out by artificial means more than he hated pineapples…and that was saying something…because he absolutely despised pineapples. But getting knocked out? It was the worst. He'd spent his childhood fighting anyone and everyone that had tried to pick on either his sisters, or his baby brother, Mattie. And in the process, the feisty Jersey native had taken some pretty nasty blows. There had been stitches and frozen packs of peas on his face over the years. Hell, he'd even had a cold cut of steak on there at one point. Danny had lost count of the numerous times his father had picked him up from the principal's office, or his mother had taken him in for said stitches. But he'd been a scrapper. Danny very rarely lost a fight, mostly because he'd never learned to 'just stay down,kid'. He'd always told himself that if someone was going to hit him, they better hit him hard enough he _couldn't_ get back up. Sometimes that had actually been the case. Once he'd become a cop, that hadn't changed. He had been shot a couple times, _yes it happened even before he met the super-ninja-SEAL, Steve McGarrett,_ and those times had left him with a different type of pain or unconsciousness. Getting punched in the face and going down for the count had never left him as disoriented or sick as medicated unconsciousness did.

The first sensation Danny felt was nausea, _which is never a good thing_ …the second was pain, _also not a good thing,_ as his head bounced against the steel frame of what Danny eventually recognized as the bed of a pickup. He was completely shrouded in darkness and his body was barely obeying any of his commands to _hold still, damn-it_. The smell of rain and the fresh air told his muzzy brain that he wasn't anywhere near the city anymore. Which was definitely a problem, because no one would have a clue where to look for him. There was a dull burning sensation in his side and a suspicious wetness clinging to his shirt. The acrid smell of dirt and the metallic ring of blood in his mouth informed him that although he'd been knocked out with something, there had been at least one fist involved. He tried to shake his head slightly to clear some of the cobwebs and was rewarded with a slicing agony that had him groaning in response. _Moving, bad...got it._ He thought.

The Five-0 detective wanted to throw up so badly that he wondered why his stomach wasn't rebelling against him at this very moment. _A little mutiny would be okay here. It might help with the pain._ But nothing happened, no matter how many times his gut flip-flopped or serpentined, his last meal remained firmly in place. After a moment Danny gave up and tried to force his eyelids apart, but they were extremely disobedient and remained stubbornly sealed. _See stomach, that's how you do it._ Okay, so he was having internal conversations with himself and that was strange, so head injury? Maybe.

Steve's face flashed in front of his closed eyes and Danny suddenly wondered if he'd get the chance to fix things with his stubborn ninja-SEAL, or if they'd be separated by the grave before that happened. He'd always thought the expression 'give up the ghost' was ridiculous, but as he laid in the back of the truck moving further and further from his friends and family...he wondered if, as a ghost, he could watch over them? Flashes of Grace and all the things he was likely to miss panned in front of his still closed eyes like a personal movie of his life. A life that he may not live to see. _Oh Grace, I'm so sorry monkey. Danno's sorry and he loves you._ A pain that had nothing to do with his current situation nearly stole his breath away at that thought. And his partner? He'd tried, he really had. But McGarrett hadn't allowed him back inside the Great-Wall-of-Steve, not since the accident and now?

All Danny can think of is the _silence_. There'd been so much ' _silence_ ' between them that it had been nearly deafening.

There was a distinct direction shift in the travel of the truck and something tickled his nose. Suddenly the Jersey detective found himself coughing as water rushed against his face. He managed to force his eyes open and blinked slowly several times before the water covered his head and he coughed again. The outburst, set off an explosion of stabbing knives inside his battered skull and an icy cold burning sensation in his side. "Son of a bitch." He panted in a pained whisper.

' _Oh yeah, bastard stabbed me._ ' He thought calmly. And Danny actually found that odd and a tad funny. He was a very passionate person, as Steve would call him, and he almost never exhibited ' _calm_ ' as one of his attributes. But that was what he felt at the moment. The fire that he knew he should be feeling in his lower body was completely absent and he reveled in the relief, even if for only a moment.

' _That's bad, I bet?_ ' He wondered silently. The pitter-patter of rain increased and he knew that he'd been taken up into the jungle. ' _God, I really do hate all jungles…everywhere. All of them. Equally.'_ The words kept popping into his brain and he was helpless to stop them as it flitted from subject to subject.

The slow rumble of the vehicle over what had to be unpaved roads decreased when it started to climb and Danny started to slide backwards in the bed until he slammed into the tailgate. His lower back colliding with a long metal object and he couldn't hold back the cry of pain as it broke through his paralysis and his world titled violently. Explosions of white light raced around inside his skull like evil little lightning bugs trying to zap him of his consciousness.

Danny bit at his lower lip, trying to control the ebb and flow of agony that was now freezing his ability to think clearly. Several moments, or hours…he didn't really know…later, Danny felt the truck slow again and then stop all together. He groaned pitifully and tried to roll away from the metal that had taken stole his refuge from pain. It was distressing when he realized that he was 'stuck' to the damn thing.

Footsteps sloshed through puddles outside the bed and suddenly the light was trying to burn a hole into his brain when the cover was thrown back. Danny's eyes couldn't adjust fast enough and he couldn't stop the cry of pain and surprise as he was hauled unceremoniously out of the truck. He landed on his side, knocking the air out of him and causing him to wheeze hoarsely. The snarky comment on his lips died instantly as the metal rod was jarred lose and Danny's entire body lit up in pain. He instinctively reached out with his right hand to try and stabilize himself and felt the still healing bones in his right forearm snap across the weak point in the bone as he collapsed against the muddy and rocky ground.

"Smile for the camera, Detective." A man's voice said. It took Danny's brain a moment to connect the accent to the man that had pretended to be a doctor. He looked up into a very blurry thing that had to be a cell phone, as it was being pointed directly at him and then managed to suck in enough air to focus his vision slightly. He pulled his right arm against his mid-section and tried to protect the now bleeding wound in his side. But the man wasn't finished yet. "Say 'hi' to Five-0, Detective Williams."

Even through the red haze of pain, the cop realized what he was… _bait_. Danny's blonde eyebrows cut down in anger. "S'not my best side." He murmured angrily.

"Don't worry, Detective. You won't be alone for long." Danny wasn't sure he'd heard that correctly and blinked several times trying to get his brain to decipher what the guy meant.

"What?" He managed.

"Nothing. Smile."

And Danny got it. The bastard was going to send pictures of him, all beat to hell, to his team…to Steve. _How fucked up was that?!_ Danny knew that this would destroy his best friend, his brother, and his partner in crime fighting. If they didn't get Danny back alive, this time? Steve wouldn't come back from it. He'd throw himself off that 'wall he hides behind' and that would be it…he'd be gone. He still didn't understand what the guy meant when he said he wouldn't be alone. Who else could he possibly mean would... _oh shit. Not Steve._

Danny hadn't expected the man to step forward and kick him with the toe of his expensive pointed shoes. _Bastard would have metal on the ends._ He aimed perfectly and the front edge of the leather shoe found the exact spot he'd stabbed Danny before leaving the clinic. It hadn't been deep enough to do any real damage other than leave the bloody trail for Five-0 to follow, but it hurt like hell and was now bleeding freely.

"Or perhaps, goodbye would be more appropriate." Danny could only listen as the man taunted his team. His world was comprised entirely of just remembering to breathe. He curled in on himself and everything spun like a crazy top.

 _H50 H50_

Steve looked around the room in rising concern. Not only was there evidence that Danny had been taken forcefully, _and probably painfully…if his cast was anything to judge by,_ but the blood suggested that it had been violent too. None of these things was making Steve feel any better about the absence of his snarky partner. He bit at his lower lip and dropped to his knees looking for any other clues. The smell of the place was turning his gut in distaste. Steve ignored the slightly nauseating feeling and focused on the task at hand. He could be sick later. Right now Danny needed him to ' _one-hundred-percent focus'_ as the Jersey man would have said, his hands slashing through the air like fleshy knives.

Something sitting behind the examination table caught his attention and Steve crawled closer. He heaved a sigh of frustration when he saw a wallet. Not a normal thing to find in a doctors office and certainly not unaccounted for. He slid his fingers between the table and the wall and pulled the brown leather out. A small part of him was hoping that when he opened that wallet it would belong to some eighteen-year-old athlete or someone, anyone other than Danny.

He slid back and sat down on his haunches before cracking the leather open and deflating when he saw the picture, as the air seemed to be sucked out of the room. Steve was still staring at the one and only, Daniel Williams' drivers license. He couldn't move as he looked at the goofy picture of his partner. Danny was using his 'persuade a suspect' smile in the photo. Leave it to the man from Jersey to _fake_ a smile for a license. He was still sitting there, staring at the photo when Kono popped her head into the room.

"Boss? What're you doing here?" She stepped into the room, her gaze bouncing around, searching for Danny. "They take Danny for some more x-rays or something?" The expression on his face must have set off something inside her, because she tilted her head and continued without taking a breath. "What happened?" Kono looked around the room again, searching and her eyes landed on the cast, with Grace's drawings, and the blood on the silver table. "Where's Danny?"

Steve swallowed and forced himself to get to his feet. He handed her the wallet and she slumped against the table before looking up at him after opening it. "We just got him back." She said softly. Her warm brown eyes were full of concern and an underlying hint of anger.

"Call Chin. We need to process this room. Hell, process this entire clinic. I don't care, but get me something to go on. Because right now? Danny's just gone." He was already striding out the door when he heard her call after him.

"Where're you going?"

Steve didn't even slow down as he answered. "To talk to the doctor. Someone took Danny from this room and I find it very hard to believe that no one saw _anything_." The words were ground out between Steve's clenched teeth and the tightness in his chest increased with each step he took. He'd spent the last five weeks pushing Danny away because he couldn't resolve his own feelings of guilt and now? Steve may not have the chance to correct that. And that was completely unacceptable in the navy man's opinion. This was going end with him and Danny getting back what they'd lost on that mountain five weeks...he'd make sure of that.

H50 H50

Dr. Max Bergman stared at the results of the blood test and frowned. He didn't want to call the Commander with these results. The uptight medical examiner had come to consider the Five-0 task force as his friends over the years and he hated giving them bad news. But when the news involved one of the _members_ of that elite team…themselves? It was so much worse.

The blood sample that the leader of the appointed task force had sent him did indeed belong to Danny Williams.

He picked up the phone and dialed the well-known number. "Max? What'd you find out?" Steve's voice bounced across the speaker like he was driving or something.

"The blood sample is a match to Detective Williams. I'm sorry, Commander." He took a deep breath when the other man didn't immediately answer. "I ran the sample three times just to make sure."

"I'm sure you did your job thoroughly, Max. Thank you for pushing that to the top of your list." Steve pulled in a long breath.

"Of course. If I can be of any further assistance, please don't hesitate to call me."

Max was still talking when Steve pulled the phone away from where he'd been balancing it on his shoulder as he wrote down some information. Chin Ho Kelly stepped around the corner of his office and frowned when he saw the devastated look on his friend's face. _It hadn't been good news._ He thought in silence.

Steve hung up with the M.E. and stared at Chin as he tried to collect his thoughts. When the silence went on too long Chin took the lead. He'd seen this look on Steve's face before. The day that Jameson had asked him to take over the task force and he and Chin had talked for the first time in almost fifteen years.

"The blood? It's Danny's?" The shorter man asked. Chin had suspected it, so had Steve. But having confirmation just…well, it sucked.

"Yeah." Steve answered softly.

Chin leaned against the wall and folded his arms across his chest. The myriad of emotions that were skipping across his friend and boss's face would've been comical under any other circumstances. He was pretty sure that Steve hadn't felt that many unguarded emotions in a long time. _Or maybe since Danny was almost killed last month._ He thought silently.

"Okay Steve, what do we know?" Chin knew that they needed to keep moving forward. It would be too easy to get bogged down in the severity of the situation and that wouldn't help Danny one bit. Steve had discovered Danny's wallet at 15:43 that afternoon. Danny's appointment had been at 12:30. Which meant that there was only about two and half hours that were unaccounted for. It wasn't enough time for someone to have gotten Danny off the Islands. But it was enough time to have taken him somewhere that might be impossible for Five-0 to track.

Steve lifted emotional eyes and stared at Chin for a moment before his training kicked in and he slammed his wall into place. It was the presence of this wall that had allowed him to survive and function after his father had died, after his mother had been _murdered_ , though that had been a ruse. Without it? Steve would've sunk into a puddle of murky emotions that would cloud his mind and derail his thinking and with Danny's life on the line…he couldn't afford that.

"We know that Danny's missing and that he was injured in the process." His voice was cold, calculating, and emotionless as he recounted what he knew. "We know that not much time had passed between Kono dropping him off and me discovering he'd been taken. We also know that Danny knew something was up or he wouldn't have dropped his wallet behind the table. His phone was smashed and then waterlogged, so his attacker knew enough to guess that we'd try and track it. No one at the clinic remembers seeing anything out of the ordinary."

Chin nodded evenly. "We also know that Danny was seeing a new doctor today. A specialist from the Big Island, so he wouldn't have been immediately tipped off by a new face."

"Okay…so what the hell are we looking for?!" Steve blurted out. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out without looking at the screen. "McGarrett." He growled.

"Commander." The unfamiliar voice set off the warning bells inside Steve's head and he pulled the phone away from his ear and glanced at the screen. "No called ID." He only had to lift his eyes to Chin, before the other man was rushing to the computer to run a trace.

"Who is this?" he demanded.

"I'd be less concerned about who I am and more concerned about 'who I have'." Another buzzing and a video link came through. The trace actually popped the link up on the big monitor in Five-0 headquarters.

Both Steve and Chin's eyes flashed up when the video opened. The back of a truck was thrown open and Danny was pulled roughly from the bed. He looked terrible, but alive. Danny stretched out his bad arm to try and catch himself as he fell, breaking it again in the process. Steve's breath froze at the pain on Danny's face as he landed in a heap. A piece of a tire jack rolled free of his body, and there was blood on it. "Say hello, Detective Williams."

The world seemed to stop and Steve couldn't stop staring at the battered state of his best friend. Danny looked terrible. There was gash on his cheek that looked like it needed stitches and the blonde man was squeezing his eyes shut as pain reflected out of his body posture. Whatever guilt Steve had been feeling was immediately trumped by the white hot rage that blasted through him.

"What the hell do you want?" Steve bit out angrily.

Danny moaned and rolled over, the long split on his cheekbone had dried and there was an angry redness to the wound that worried Steve…infection. The man never stepped in front of the camera and Steve didn't recognize what he was seeing in the background. Where ever this son of a bitch had taken Danny? Steve didn't know it. "Smile for the camera, Detective."

And Steve saw it. The exact moment when Danny realized what type of game this was. The kind that had bait, namely him. When he didn't do anything more than drop his eyelids closed and curl into himself, the man stepped forward and kicked Danny hard enough that Steve swore _he had felt it_. Danny couldn't stop the cry of pain and Steve couldn't miss the red that was spreading rapidly from a wound on Danny's side.

"I swear to god if you touch him again, I'll rip your spleen out through your throat! If you want someone, take me." Steve blurted out as the rage consumed him. But the line died and the video of Danny disappeared. "No!" He spun on his teammate like a man possessed. "Chin! Tell me you know where that was coming from?"

Chin swallowed the angry and frightening lump in his throat. "It was a burner and he must have removed the battery right after he hung up, because I've got nothing." It hurt all the way to his soul to relate those words. Chin was exceptionally fond of the New Jersey detective and knew that if they didn't find Danny soon, they might not ever see him alive again. He hadn't looked good on that video.

"Can you bring it back up and pause it on the shoe?" Kono's voice surprised both men and they pinned her with a thousand questions reflected in their eyes. "I'm pretty sure there was green sand on his boots. There's only one place on the Islands that has green sand."

Steve pulled in a ragged breath. "Green Sands Beach on Hawaii. It's out near Hilo, right?"

Kono nodded. "Yeah, I used to surf around there when I was visiting my aunt. But there are bunch of old lava tubes out there too, so it could take some time to search them all."

Chin shook his head. How had _he_ missed that? A gentle hand landed on his shoulder. "I only caught the end of that video, cuz." She grimaced and her eyes hardened. "I don't think I would've seen it if I'd been focused on Danny the whole time."

Steve was already racing out the door. "Governor, I need your help…"

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Thank you for the awesome show of support in the form of reviews. You guys are totally awesome and in light of that, here's the next chapter. I've actually been to this beach, it's amazing, but there aren't really any jungles near it, so I am taking liberties there, don't shoot me for it. Also, this isn't going to play out as easily as McGarrett's thinking, he's got his own 'comeuppance' coming. Steve!whump on the way. And this time? Danny's gonna have to watch._

 **PLEASE REVIEW: And the reviews have spoken…play out this one shall.**


	3. Ghosts of the Future

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter Three :**

 _Ghosts of the Future_

The ride to the Big Island was sheer and unadulterated hell. Steve kept staring at his watch, like he could _will_ the damn helicopter to go faster. The vast expanse of ocean blazing past under the whirling rotors of the helicopter did nothing to dispel the fear that was threatening to crack the navy SEAL open. Every time he blinked he was seeing that last image of Danny, hunched over with agony pouring out of his blue eyes. But it wasn't just the pain that was sending tendrils of fear running through Steve, but the acceptance that he'd seen in his friend's pained gaze. A part of the military man hoped that it was just a front on Danny's part. That the sarcastic, snarky detective was just playing up the injury level to gain some sort of an advantage.

Steve hadn't been able to clear the image from his mind since the video link had blacked out. He knew that he was pushing the cousins away as he pulled further and further into himself. But he didn't honestly know how to stop it. After his father had been murdered, only the chance meeting with Danny had kept him from sinking into this same bottomless pit. Something about the angry, snarky man that had threatened to send Steve to the hospital in an ambulance had resonated with the SEAL and he'd instantly liked Danny…even if the feeling hadn't been mutual. Which it most definitely _had not_. In fact, the damn Jersey detective had clocked Steve in the jaw, leaving a hell of bruise, within four hours of meeting him. Of course, he'd gotten Danny shot within the first hour, but who was keeping track of that? Steve had never liked anyone as much as he liked Danny Williams.

The military man had never had anyone but Mary and he'd often wondered that if he'd had a brother, if he would've been like the Jersey native. An enormous part of him hoped so. Danny was loyal, smart, tough, and one of the best investigators that Steve had ever worked with. He was jarred from his thoughts as the pilot informed them they were close to the Island and would be landing soon. Steve nodded and locked eyes with both Chin and Kono without saying anything. He didn't need to. Neither did they. They weren't coming back without Danny. Failure wasn't an option.

The landing on the flat grassy area above the cliff and rock enclosed beach was rough because of the wind sheer blasting over the plateau in nasty gusts. Steve bolted from the chopper before it had settled all the way on the ground and raced down the ravine toward the trail that would lead him to the beach two hundred feet below. The water was crashing over the rocks in blasting caps of white and blue. The sound and power of the ocean boomed around him. Steve's eyes lifted and he bit at his lower lip in frustration when he saw the storm that was now sitting on the horizon. The temperature was steadily dropping and the winds were whipping around as they gained strength. This wasn't just an afternoon storm, it was something worse.

"That what I think it is?" Chin asked as he too stared at the gathering storm.

Steve's eyes narrowed in frustration. "Yeah, it is."

"Crap."

Steve shifted focus. "Kono, can you meet the Island PD and have them start searching all the nearby areas? Chin and I will head down and start at the bottom, working our way back up. Meet up with us when the officers get here and you get them situated?" Steve was barely paying attention to her answer as he slid to a stop and stared down at the beach.

"I've got this, boss. I'll start searching along here why I wait." She turned and moved away at a sprint for the approaching police cruiser.

The steep decline slowed Steve down as he struggled to maintain his balance and avoid the potentially deadly fall on the lava rocks below. Chin was on his heels and the first drops of rain splashed on the dirt in front of him.

"We've gotta hurry. If that storm gets here and we're still in that ravine, it'll be tomorrow before we can climb out." Chin's words were barely audible above the rising winds. And that was if they _could_ climb back out. That area was primed to fill with ocean swells and could bash a person against the rocks cracking their skull open like an egg.

Steve didn't even bother answering. He knew that he wasn't leaving until they'd searched every inch of green sands beach for Danny. There was a crack and the bullet that ripped through the air surprised the SEAL and he dropped to the sandy ground. He was simultaneously pulling his pistol from his belt and rolling onto his back, searching for the threat. His blue-green gaze flashed over and he pulled in a shaky breath when he saw that Chin had done the same. It didn't look like his friend had been hit.

"You see where that came from?" Steve called out angrily. Someone was trying to keep them from getting to Danny.

The other man shook his head. "No. But—" Chin was cut off when another bullet zinged over their heads. He immediately pointed with his gun. "That way."

Steve's eyes followed the direction and he nodded before slowly pulling himself to his knees, using the rocks as cover. "I'm gonna move, cover me." Tiny cuts and scrapes appeared on his palms as he moved and there was now a hole in his cargo pants.

Chin nodded and popped off several rounds. Steve ran to the opposite side of the trail and worked his way up. He rounded a corner and sprinted further up the hill. He saw the muzzle flash of another burst of bullets and he flattened himself against the face of the cliff. The SEAL glanced over his shoulder and then up at the approaching storm. If he was going to find Danny, he needed to find out who the hell was shooting at them and he needed to do it now.

He started to turn around the last bend and never saw the piece of driftwood that knocked him out cold. Pain exploded in his head and Steve collapsed in a heap of tangled limbs and torn cargo pants. A man stepped out of the shadows and stared down at the felled military man. He was carefully searched for all his weapons and then bound.

"That's for killing my brother." The accented man reached down and grabbed at Steve's lashed wrists and slowly dragged him away, headless of the damage it was doing to the SEAL's body. The lava rocks tore into the soft skin on Steve's back as his shirt rode up and one of his boots was pulled from his foot when his leg caught in a natural hole and the man tugged hard enough that there was a 'snap' and Steve's leg rolled free.

More shots rang out as the shooter kept Chin pinned down. In the distance the muted calls for Steve were drowned out by the incoming tide and the thunder clapping loudly in the distance.

H50 H50

The floating sensation had never been something that Danny had enjoyed. Even when he'd been in the hospital, being treated for pain, he'd tried to handle as much as he could without the drugs that affected his mind. For as much as he liked to tease Steve about being a control freak, he was every bit as bad as his partner, and Danny knew it. A sudden crack of thunder jolted him awake and he immediately bit at his lower lip when the pain raced through his body, reminding him of his current condition.

Danny groaned when he moved against some sort of solid wall and it scraped along his back causing him to arch away involuntarily. He cradled his broken arm against his chest and tried desperately to ignore the way his back was screaming in protest when the first drops of rain hit him. It was only then that he realized that he was inside a hole. A very deep hole with one-way out. His blue eyes shifted up and he squinted against the darkening sky and the black clouds that had blotted out the bright yellow sun. Some sixty-five feet above him was the surface and he'd been left at the bottom of a natural lava tube. He had no clue how the son of a bitch had gotten him down here, but he'd managed it and now Danny was well and truly fucked...

To his right was a solid wall of black rock and to his left was water. Maybe there was an underwater tunnel or maybe the water had just collected at the base because of the heavy rains this season. Either way, Danny was fucking trapped. He couldn't climb out and he couldn't swim through a tunnel that may or may not lead to the open ocean. _And riptides. And sharks. And all sorts of other things to make him dead._

A groan that had nothing to do with pain slipped past his lips and he leaned forward, swallowing his mounting fear. He was in a very confined space, never mind that he could see the sky, _way the hell above him_ , and he had no way of getting out. It took a moment but a buzzing, several feet away, got Danny's attention and he blinked in surprise when he saw a cell phone sealed inside a plastic bag and sitting on a natural ledge above the pool of water.

The detective bit at his lip and slowly dragged his battered body toward the phone. Tiny shards of pain sliced through him and he found that by the time he reach the device he was sweating heavily and his hair was plastered to his head. Danny gulped and grabbed the phone with his left hand, carefully he managed to get the tiny silver device out of the bad and flicked it open. What he saw made him cringe. It was a video feed. The keys had all been removed with the exception of the 'talk' and 'end' buttons on the phone. He couldn't dial anyone. All Danny could do was accept a call and hang one up. The video feed showed Steve and Chin searching desperately in an area that Danny didn't recognize.

But what was so much worse was that he could tell from the angle of the video that whoever was shooting it had the high ground. Steve was below him, which meant that something was about to go down and there was nothing that Danny could do to stop it. "Get the hell outta there, Steve. What're you doing?" He managed to grind out past the fear and pain. He watched as Steve and Chin talked about something and then the Hawaiian native jogged out of view.

Steve was standing on the steep path, alone. The wind was pulling violently at his cargo pants and the over-shirt that he insisted on wearing over his Omni-present t-shirt rippled in the strong Island storm. Water was pouring down around the SEAL and Danny's concern skyrocketed. A flash of something behind Steve caused the man to spin around and then he dropped like he'd been shot.

"No!" Danny couldn't stop the cry of disbelief and denial when Steve went down. But then the phone clicked off and no amount of trying to power it back on was going to change that. The phone slipped from his numb fingers and Danny leaned against the wall as his body started to fail. The adrenaline that had been sustaining him since he'd regained consciousness was finally abandoning him. And he was pretty sure he'd just witnessed the assassination of Steve McGarrett.

The rain started to fall in earnest and in the back of his head; Danny understood that he could very well drown inside this tube of hell. But the tears that mixed with the rainwater had nothing to do with his demise…and everything to do with Steve's...and then there was Grace.

H50 H50

 _The air was cool for Hawaii and the bright yellow sun was hidden behind a swath of fluffy grey clouds. Banyan trees sprang up at odd intervals around the pristine area. The rain was falling in a soft pelting way that only Hawaii has. It was soothing. A young woman stood on the lush green grass, her black backpack slung over her shoulder and her glossy brown hair pulled back into a tight bun. She was thin, but with an athletic build that spoke of more than malls and sleepovers. She carried herself with a confidence that is only borne of training and defiance. Her deep brown eyes scanned the distance until she saw what she was searching for and only then did she move. A bright gold badge was pinned next to a silver one on her backpack and a cloth patch of 'New Jersey' had been sewn on the outside of the front pocket._

 _Grace Williams stopped and moved to a specific area. It was like she'd been there a hundred times, retracing steps that she could follow in her sleep. The unnaturally green grass was well cared for and the spot looked very nice. She was dressed all in black, right down to her socks and the bag she was carrying. She was older too, maybe seventeen or eighteen._

 _Danny stood back staring at the stunning beauty his daughter had grown into. He wasn't sure when that had happened. The last time he'd seen his little monkey, his Grace, she'd been thirteen and still calling him 'Danno'. He watched as she sank down onto the grass and pulled open the black bag. The rain continued to fall and it was like she didn't even notice. Danny's heart pulled painfully as sadness ghosted over her face when her eyes landed on something. After a moment of rummaging in her pack, Grace pulled out several applications. She slid closer to the tree that was currently protecting her from the afternoon rainstorm._

 _She carefully spread the applications out on the grass, each of them encased in a clear plastic sleeve. Danny couldn't help the swell of pride at how organized and responsible his daughter had become._ _'Because God knows she didn't get that from me.' He thought silently._ Danny _found himself leaning closer when she finally started to speak. "Okay, dad. I talked to all the schools before I made this decision. So you can't be mad at me, okay?"_

" _Why would I be mad, Grace?" He asked. But she didn't move. In fact she never even glanced in his direction and Danny got a sick feeling in his gut. He forced his gaze to shift across the space and all the sudden he found that he was frozen in this spot with the sickening realization. 'This is a cemetery.'_

 _Grace's cell phone rang and her determined brown eyes shifted and microscopic debate happened for the space of a single moment before she quickly 'silenced' it. "Mom doesn't know about any of this. I talked to Charlie, but he doesn't really understand…beside this is our secret. Yours and mine." Grace looked around conspiratorially and then pulled out yet another application. Danny leaned forward so he could see what it was and his heart nearly exploded in panic._

' _Newark Police Academy' and below the application was an acceptance number. "Grace, no." He breathed of the whisper as his chest seized tightly around his heart. Danny had never wanted this life for Grace. A cop's life. She had options. The kid was smart, he had no idea how that'd happened, and with Stan's money? She could go to any school she wanted anywhere in the world. She could be a doctor or an engineer…anything but a cop. Danny had always known that he was a good detective, but he'd never considered himself particularly 'smart'. It had been a pleasant surprise when Grace had shown a real aptitude in math and science and for the first time he'd hoped that his 'kid' had a very bright future._

 _Her eyes shifted to the left and then back to the ground. Grace seemed to deflate somewhat and she took a long slow breath before continuing. "I already told Uncle Steve. He thinks you'll be happy. I know you're gonna be pissed at me. But this is what I want, Danno. I wanna help people…just like you."_

 _Danny's eyes followed hers and he felt the strength drain from him as his legs gave out and he sank down onto his knees. He hadn't realized where they were, not until he looked down and saw the grave._

" _Detective Daniel 'Danno' Williams, beloved father, friend, and son." And there on the head stone next to him was, "Lt. Commander Steven J. McGarrett, loving son and brother, patriot, and devoted friend."_

" _Oh my god…no." Danny breathed out as he looked between the two pieces of granite._

 _A sad smiled pulled at the edges of Grace's lips. It was almost like she could feel his presence, because Grace went on like they were having a conversation. "I told you he'd be pissed, Uncle Steve." She said with a tiny pained laugh. It was the sound of a child that had been forced to grow up too fast._

 _Danny still had both his parents; he'd never known the despair that comes with losing one of them to an act of violence. But Steve? His heart clenched at the thought that Grace had that in common with his best friend. Both of them losing a parent at such a young age…it wasn't fair. "Uncle Chin helped me with the application. He said that you wouldn't want me to do this, dad. That you'd want me to go be a doctor or maybe an architect, anything that would keep me out of the police departments." Tears welled in he big brown eyes and she pulled her lip between her teeth._

" _But I can't do that. This is the only way I know how to be close to you. I need this and I know that you understand that." She finished with a sniff._

 _Danny could feel his own eyes burning as he watched his daughter suffer. This was his fault. He'd gone gotten himself killed…and Grace didn't hate him for it. How could she not 'hate' him? At the moment he hated the hell out of himself._

 _H50 H50_

Danny didn't know when he passed out or fell asleep, whichever had happened. But he came back to awareness with a jolt. Pain cascaded through his entire body and he knew that he was now running a fever, _so infection…awesome._ He forced his gaze up and was rewarded with a face full of rainwater. The storm was still raging above him. Bright flashes of lightening lit up the darkness and he found that he could barely breathe. The water was rising inside his 'cell' and now he couldn't get the image of Grace's future out of his head. He was going to be swimming soon and he wasn't entirely sure he could do that.

And then Danny was assaulted with the last image he'd seen of Steve. His friend had gone down like he'd been shot.

Suddenly the air was too thin and Danny couldn't stop what felt like a massive panic attack. _Did I watch Steve die on that phone?_ He pushed himself up against the wall of the lava tube in an effort to orient himself. His entire body was a cacophony of shifting pain and numbness. He wished that his back would let up or that his arm didn't feel like it was trying split the skin and swell to an unnatural size.

A scraping sound caught his attention and Danny's gaze shifted up. His vision was blurry enough and the top of the tube was far enough above him that he couldn't make out much of anything. But then something dark and gangly was falling and he scrambled to get out of the way. A large object fell past him and splashed into the water with a sickening thud. Water split the air and went everywhere and Danny couldn't help but swallow some of the salty stuff as he struggled to get out of the way. He coughed. _And shit does that hurt._ It was like an electric shock went through his entire body and it lit up in a fiery agony. His arm was throbbing, his head was fuzzy, and that didn't even touch how his back was feeling. And then there was the claustrophobia thing and the pain of the dream he'd had.

And now there was _something_ in this god forsaken hole with him.

TBC…

 **Author's Note** : _Dun dun dun…It's not looking too good for our Five-0 boys. Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed the last chapter. Your guys are awesome._

 **PLEASE REVIEW: Just let me know what you think of the newest chapter.**

 **play out this one shall.**


	4. Haoles and Ohana

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter Four** **:**

 _Haloes' and Ohana_

The storm was increasing in both intensity and ferocity and the booming thunder was sending Danny's anxiety through the roof. Flashes of white electricity were cutting across the black sky in increasing streaks of brilliant light. Debris was being blown over the top of Danny's scary-ass little hole and into it, when the winds suddenly shifted direction. Several large branches and even a few palm fronds had been tossed in on him. In fact a damn coconut had even made it over the side. _That_ had actually hit him in the shoulder. The injured man was pretty sure he'd have a hell of a bruise…if he made it out alive.

Danny had barely managed to miss having the sprawling limbs of the body crash into him as he'd thrown himself out of the way.

"Hello?" Danny called as he tried to see what the hell had just been surreptitiously chucked into his own personal graveyard. There was no movement and he forced himself to ignore the bouncing slashes of pain and check out what the object was. Or worse, who it was.

It all happened in the flash of a few microseconds. Lightning lit up the night sky and Danny managed to focus his eyes just enough to catch the metallic glint of a gold badge. "Shit…no, no, no…" He repeated softly over and over as he reached out and pulled, what he now suspected was a human body, toward him. His right arm was clutched against his body and it was hell using only his left. Danny had never been particularly ambidextrous and that hadn't changed just because he'd managed to break his right arm…again. He didn't know if it was sweat rolling down his face or rain as he struggled.

Rolling the uncooperative human form over and ignoring the biting slices of pain that were now making Danny groan, was like trying to ignore Rachel when she was angry. He almost couldn't do it, but he tried like hell. There was another flash and the air seemed to freeze inside the tiny area. Never mind that the detective was already shivering from the cold water he was standing waist deep in. A shock of brunette hair and a quick glimpse of tattoos was all the confirmation that Danny needed. And in a terrifying instant the cop realized ' _who'_ had been dropped in with him and the air was stolen from his lungs, as he was frantically trying to check his friend for signs of life.

"Oh god, no. Come on…" He ignored the mounting limitations of his own body and wrapped his broken arm around the taller man's chest. Danny bit through his own lip in and effort to control the misery he was in. "Steve, your heart better be beating babe or I'm gonna kill you." He whispered softly before reaching over to check for a pulse. His hands were shaking so bad that he wasn't completely sure he'd even recognize a pulse if he found one. _No, I'm not thinking like that. You're alive, you stupid, self-sacrificing, irritatingly tall, ninja-SEAL._ He couldn't bring himself to even breathe the words out loud; so all that came out was a soft begging whine. It sounded pathetic, even to his own ears. And at this point, Danny didn't care.

"Come on, buddy. Talk to me. Please…Steve, don't do this." It might have been begging and _unmanly_ , but Danny found that he didn't give a rat's ass about appearances. The Jersey native couldn't take another breath until he felt the steady, if too fast, thrum of the other man's pulse beneath the gentle, probing fingers of his left hand. Danny was forced to keep his back up against the wall, using it as leverage to keep Steve's head and heavy body above the slowly rising water. The detective side of Danny's brain started kicking in and he figured out a few important details. _If you're here, then Chin and Kono can't be too far away._ So maybe there was hope for them. The violent crashing of thunder undermined his confidence a bit and he frowned. His cheek pulled painfully and constant burn of his slowly rising fever kept reminding him that he didn't have long before his injuries pulled him under.

Danny forced himself to look up and he couldn't help the tendrils of fear that stated to scurry through him when he saw the increasing flashes of light and the deafening howl of the wind echoed through the circular lava tube.

"Help?!" He called hoarsely. Nothing…no answer.

The all-encompassing fear that always accompanied small spaces was ever present and he swallowed the intensity of his own reaction as the walls felt like they were closing in. Danny knew that more likely than not, his words were being ripped away by the storm. Or worse, their friends had been forced to abandon the search in which case, it was highly likely that both Danny and Steve were going to die down here. The heart-breaking image of Grace in the cemetery assaulted Danny again and he pulled his lower lip between his teeth in anguish.

A soft groan from the larger man pulled his attention back and some of the fear settled like a stone in Danny's gut. Steve's eyelids fluttered and then he moaned before immediately starting to struggle. He accidentally slammed Danny in the ribs with a flailing elbow; only the pained cry stopped him for going further.

"Ouch! Shit…Steve, would you just stop." The Jersey cop's side lit up in a sharp gnawing pain and he struggled to maintain his hold on the thrashing form of the larger man.

Confused blue-green eyes finally connected with Danny's slate blue and the detective forced a smile past his chapped lips. Steve stared up at his friend, _huh, that's a new one,_ Danny's blonde hair was hanging in his eyes and the gash on his cheek was swollen and red, but he was very much alive. Steve blinked a few times as he tried to clear the cobwebs from his head. He didn't want this to be a dream, something that his concussed mind had concocted to keep him going.

"Danny?" There was an unnatural pause before Steve continued with a slight slur to his speech. "You okay?"

Danny debated on lying, but decided that honesty would be more useful at this point. "No. Not really. And I can think of better ways to spend time together, Steven." He answered and shook his head when another wave of water rushed over the edge above him and he tried to protect Steve using his own body. The moment it hit his back he nearly buckled under the weight. But somehow, he managed to keep his legs under him. The grievous wound in the detective's side was burning and Danny was doing his level best to ignore the nightmare that seemed to be his life.

Steve managed to shove his uncooperative feet down and take his own weight and Danny couldn't help the wave of relief. There was a large gash on Steve's forehead, but other than that, he seemed okay. "Can you get these off?" Steve held up his bound hands and for the first time Danny realized that his partner had been tied up and thrown into a watery grave.

The SEAL took a good look, in the limited light of the lava tube, at the other man and he didn't like what he was seeing. Even if his partner was a little blurry around the edges. Danny looked like he was barely holding it together. The injuries were every bit as severe in person as they'd appeared on the video feed and now they were trapped with a tropical storm raging outside their watery prison.

The smaller blonde man was now holding his injured right arm tightly against his stomach and Steve's gaze dropped when Danny shivered violently. "Danny? Danny, you okay?"

A sick feeling rolled through his gut and the detective bit back the intense feelings of nausea and the dizziness that were now threatening to overwhelm him. It was almost like his body recognized that Steve was here now and it was okay for it to start shutting down. "I don't feel so good." Danny stammered just as his eyes rolled around the cave. He looked disoriented and that didn't' make Steve feel any better about their chances. If they were going to get out of this hole, he needed Danny alert.

"You don't look so good either." Steve shot back.

Danny's face lit up with a lightening strike. And he shook his head, furrowing his forehead in irritation. "That's not nice, Steven." And then he was falling, his head disappearing beneath the gathering water.

"Danny?!" Steve cried. Fear washed through him and sloshed forward, ignoring the pounding inside his own skull.

H50 H50

Chin couldn't see his own hand in front of his face at this point. The storm had literally come out of nowhere. The rain was coming down in thick impenetrable sheets of water and the winds were blinding him as they crashed around the search party. He'd finally made the heart-wrenching call to pull back the search teams until the tropical storm weakened. They'd pushed until it became too dangerous.

It had taken Kono slipping in the mud and splitting her leg open on a hidden rock for him to make the call. Now as he stared at his cousin's pained expression and then watching as the beach disappeared into the darkness when they drove away, he'd never felt like more of a fraud.

Steve had never abandoned any of them, not once. And Danny? That damn Haole had never left any of them hanging and he never would. It wasn't in the Jersey man's DNA, he didn't know _how_ to _quit_. Not when Steve had taken off with Jenna Kaye and gotten himself captured in North Korea or when Chin had found himself locked inside Halawa prison. Danny had always believed that the members of the Five-0 task force were above reproach. And that belief never waivered not in the almost five years that Chin had known the snarky blonde.

If Lt. Kelly had learned anything from the members of his team, it was loyalty. And Daniel Williams had that in spades. For a team with only one woman on it, one would have thought that Kono was the _heart_ of the their team. Chin knew that this wasn't the case. Hell, everyone on the Five-0 task force knew it. Danny 'Danno' Williams was the heart and the glue that held the elite force together.

Chin would do anything for his team. He loved them like family…hell they were family. Ohana. The safety of the men and women that had come to help search for Danny, and not Steve, had to come first and there was nothing Chin could do to change that. Neither of the men they were searching for would want it any other way.

Steve had flat out disappeared while they'd been searching and neither Chin nor Kono had been able to find any clues leading a potential location for the Jersey detective or their missing team leader. It was like he'd just vanished from the Cliffside.

"It's not your fault, Chin." Kono's soft words pulled him out of his self-recrimination and he raised haunted eyes to meet her concerned gaze. She could see her cousin dropping into a very bad place. This whole thing was a series of unfortunate events. Nothing that had happened to either Danny or Steve could be laid at the feet of anyone else. Except the men that had taken them. Kono knew that Chin would take all the blame on himself if she didn't stop the shame-spiral before it got out of hand.

Chin shook his head; his dark eyes haunted before wiping his hand down his face. "I lost him."

"Lost who? Steve?" She tilted her head. "Chin, you couldn't have stopped him from going after Danny. We all thought this was where he was being kept." She dropped her head onto her chest. "If it's anyone's fault that he's lost out there…it's mine. I led everyone out here on my hunch." She pulled in a shaky breath. "And it proved to be a goose chase."

The cruiser they were riding in weaved back and forth as the officer tried to avoid downed trees on the tiny road.

TBC…

 **Author's Note** : _This is a short one, but rest assured I'm already working ahead. Thinking that I'll get the next one up tomorrow. Thanks for all the fantastic reviews. I'm so glad you guys liked (if that's the right word) the scene with Grace in the cemetery. Sometimes I wonder what Danny thinks every time he's about to die or goes racing in after Steve on a case._

 _Also, no promises on how long this one will be. I have no clue. But plan on longer, rather than shorter._

 **PLEASE REVIEW: Your fantastic response has kept at the keyboard. Please keep it up.**


	5. Revelations in a Lava Tube

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter Five** **:**

 _Revelations in a Lava Tube_

 _Steve was rocketed back to those awful moments when they'd been trapped inside that collapsed building. He'd been in explosions before, although he'd never had an entire building fucking dropped on him. It had been scary as awareness seeped back into his concussed mind. His vision had been fuzzy and the ringing in his ears had been deafening. As he'd moved he did a mental tally of his injuries, concussion? Check. Broken ribs? Maybe, a check? Vision? Blurry and greying at the edges, but check._

 _And that's when he realized it. He couldn't hear Danny. The man that couldn't be silent for twenty seconds wasn't making a sound. When that bomber had strapped an explosive to his chest, complete with a proximity sensor and Steve had told Danny to remain 'completely still'. His partner had questioned what would happen if he couldn't remain 'completely still'?_

 _Steve had answered in no uncertain terms, 'then this bomb is going to explode and both you and me are going to die'. The wide-eyed fear on Danny's face had been plain as his gaze flickered back and forth between the dead man and Steve._

 _But now, buried in the rubble and hoping like hell that someone realized they were down here. It was less horrifying than the moment that Danny didn't immediately answer him._

" _Danny!" He called into the dust filled room._

 _Steve shoved his way out of the broken building pieces and struggled to his feet. He wiped some of the dust and grit out of his eyes and waited for the room to stop spinning. "Danny?! Answer me!"_

 _He moved through the cement pieces and his eyes landed on a hand. The hand was covered in dust and it wasn't moving. Denial sprang up from his gut and Steve had to force himself to close the distance and see if this was his partner. He and Danny had been in some tight spots over the years, but he'd never truly considered losing the irritating detective in the line of duty. The one exception had been the saran incident._

 _A sudden groan of pain caught his attention and Steve stumbled across the floor and knelt down. "Danny?"_

 _The detective's usually vibrant hand opened and closed slowly. "Steve? What happened?"_

" _Building exploded."_

 _Danny coughed. "Fantastic, so it was a trap? I was right?"_

 _The larger man wasn't sure if he should be irritated or happy that Danny was trying to get him to admit to a mistake. Either way, he needed to assess the cop's wounds, since he was still trapped under at least a ton of concrete._

" _Can we do this later?" Steve asked as he looked around for something he could use as leverage._

 _Danny coughed again and nodded as much as he could. "Yeah, okay."_

 _H50 H50_

The word _terrified_ didn't come close to describing the gambit of emotions that raced through McGarrett as he watched Danny's blonde head disappear beneath the waters inky blackness. It took his frazzled brain a few seconds to catch up to the desperate nature of their situation before his body was simply reacting out of habit. His head was throbbing and his hands were still bound together in front of him. The water was waist deep for him, so that meant it would have been sitting low on Danny's chest if the smaller man had been standing. It was also February in Hawaii and the water, contrary to popular belief, isn't all that warm.

 _The water is the only reason I survived that fall._ Steve thought fitfully as he splashed forward, driving his bound hands beneath the surface before feeling around for his fallen partner. When his hands didn't immediately bump into Danny's body panic slipped in and fused with the terror creating an explosive emotional state for the SEAL. "Danny!" He called out in a hoarse voice. His words resounded inside the tube and the inside of his head lit up in pain. It was heart stopping when his call didn't result in any type of answer. "DANNY?!" He cried again and then he felt it.

The soft pull of fabric, as something brushed against his fingers, had Steve thrusting both hands deeper beneath the surface, his own face nearly disappearing as he reached deeper. For one heart breaking moment he thought he'd lost it, but then his fingers closed around Danny's collar and he hauled the smaller man above the surface. Sometimes water rescues aren't what they look like in the movies. The victim doesn't immediately start coughing and breathing on their own…luckily for Steve, sometimes they are _exactly_ like the movies.

The detective's head lolled against his chest as Steve pulled him close enough to check for breathing. Danny's breath spluttered against him as he unconsciously coughed the water from him lungs. _God bless the gag reflex._

"Danny, Danny, hey buddy, can you hear me?" Steve was fairly certain, looking at Danny's closed eyelids, that his friend couldn't hear him. "Come on, man. This isn't the time to go all silent on me." He was rambling and he knew it. Water sloshed against the side of the lava tube and then splashed back on Steve. A slight shiver ran through him at the cool temperature. He shook his head, since he wasn't willing to let go of Danny to wipe it away.

Steve could feel the shivers starting to rack the other man's body and everything he'd learned in navy SEAL training started to kick in. There were medical conditions that he would eventually have to worry about, but looking at Danny. The cop was already suffering from some of them. Hypothermia, hypovolemic shock, respiratory distress as the body temperature drops, and that wasn't even taking in the fact that his partner had some sort of wound on his side. A broken arm and God knows what else. And then there was whatever Danny had been keeping from him for that past five weeks. All in all, Steve was feeling pretty damn useless at the moment. The only thing he could do was keep his friend's head above water as the storm raged above them.

"Come on, I came all the way out here and got thrown into the hole with you, just to make sure you were okay." He forced a breath. "So you have to be okay, Danny. Otherwise that's just a crappy thing to do." The navy man continued to talk as the storm raged around him and his burden. He made sure that Danny was kept above the water and his concern was going up exponentially when he realized that the water was now at his chest. If the rain kept up like this, then he was going to be swimming soon and that wouldn't be good for Danny either. Judging by the way his friend had looked on the video, it was entirely possible that Danny wouldn't be able to tread water for very long.

"You have…aneurism face." Danny's words pulled Steve back to the present and he glanced down. His partner was staring up at him, a slight smile on his slightly blue lips and a worried look in his unfocused eyes.

"I don't have an aneurism face." Steve responded without thinking. Lightening flared and he looked more closely at his friend. He didn't like what he was seeing. Danny's eyes were unfocused and he was pale, even for a non-native.

"I'm sorry to tell you. But, yes. You do. You have an aneurism face." Danny's voice was soft and Steve had to lean in to hear it over the rising howl of the winds. The smaller man blinked slowly and then looked around. "We're in trouble aren't we." It wasn't even a question. "…wasn't a dream?"

"No, Danny. It wasn't a dream."

Danny blinked slowly. "Good. Would'a been a shitty dream. No hula girls or beer."

The SEAL wanted desperately to take his friend's mind off their current situation. "I've been in worse." Steve lied. He, himself, had been in worse, but never when he had to think about the well being of someone else. And certainly no one that he was as close to as Danny.

A furrow formed between Danny's eyebrows and he forced his own legs down until they connected with the water-covered floor. "What? When?" He continued. But the look on his partner's face had him sighing in defeat. "Let me guess. It's classified."

Steve actually smiled at that. He _actually could_ tell Danny about that time, but seeing the old Danny staring up at him when he didn't answer was worth staying silent. "How're you?" He finally managed.

"Uh, I've recited every major lineup for the New York Yankees and I still haven't managed to forget the fact that I'm trapped in a very small space." He looked around. "One that is getting smaller the more it rains. To be perfectly honest, I'm a little tired of the water. I'd like to sleep in a bed tonight." Danny forced the snaky response past the pain that was threatening to undo him. The leader of his team couldn't do anything to alleviate Danny's condition. Better to keep him focused on survival.

"Not what I meant." Steve said softly.

Danny looked away. He knew exactly what Steve had meant, but he didn't want to explain to his friend that he wasn't doing too well. His vision was blurry and his chest was burning in a ' _I think I might be getting pneumonia'_ sort of a way. Shivers were running through his body and setting off his nerves endings in a very painful way. The wound in his side would spasm every now and then, his arm hurt like hell, and his back? The only reason he was able to stand up right now was because the water making him more buoyant. If he'd been on dry ground, Danny was pretty sure he'd have collapsed by now. He wasn't sure how _honest_ he should be with Steve at the moment. It wasn't like his partner could do anything about the pain or their current situation.

"I know that, babe. But can we concentrate on getting out of here first? There's nothing you can do for me until then." What little Steve could see of the Jersey man's face was begging him to let this go.

Steve frowned. He knew that Danny wasn't being completely honest with him and that was part of the reason they were in this situation to begin with. Not the cave, that was completely and one hundred percent the fault of that asshole that had taken them, but the strained friendship thing. "Fine, but if you die on me? I'm gonna kill you."

Danny couldn't stop the slight smile that pulled the edges of lips up. "You heard that, huh?"

"Just the part where you threatened to kill an unconscious man." Steve was trying to figure out how he was going to keep Danny above the water, if it kept rising, and try to climb out. He had to let go of the injured man's shoulder.

"If you heard me, you weren't _that_ unconscious." Danny shot back.

"Says you. Maybe I'm just that good?"

Danny snorted. "Oh, I'm sure that's what you'd have me believe. That your super ninja-SEAL training gave you some kind of recuperative power that the rest of us do not have."

Steve lessened his hold on the shorter man to see if he was gong to slide under the water again. "Can you stand?"

For once Danny didn't shoot back with a sarcastic comment. "Uh…I think so. Not sure for how long though."

"I'm going to get us out of this, Danno."

A flood of relief washed through the cop when he heard Steve call him by the nickname. Truthfully, he actually hated being called Danno; the only reason he referred to himself like that was because of Grace. But somewhere along the line, the name had shifted and now it belonged to both his daughter and the stubborn SEAL that insisted on using it. "M'kay…" Danny managed as he was forced to take all his own weight when Steve stepped away.

Steve looked up at the walls and swore internally. They were nearly flawless. Which meant that he couldn't climb them without the proper equipment and it wasn't like he had any of that on him. "I can't climb these." He murmured in a defeated whisper. For all the things he could do, scaling a wall with no handholds wasn't one of them. He wasn't Spiderman after all.

"So now what?" Danny asked as he sagged against the wall. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but he found he was disappointed when Steve couldn't scale the smooth walls.

Steve looked up and realized that the storm was weakening or else they were in the eye and it wasn't over yet. _Jesus, don't let it be that._ But the water was no longer rushing over the side; it was dribbling down the walls. When he saw Danny sagging further into the water he moved closer to the smaller man. "How bad are you? Be honest, Danny."

The blonde pulled in a shuddering breath and Steve heard the unmistakable wheeze in his lungs. The tiny razor slices of fire inside his chest were only overshadowed by the vice like grip on his lungs. "Guy stabbed me in the side, before he hauled my ass outta of the doctor's office." Danny revealed slowly.

"Son of a bitch." Steve's hands were immediately searching beneath the water for the wound.

"Would you stop. You can't do anything and I think it stopped bleeding anyways—"

"How would you even know, Danny! It's been underwater for hours." Steve felt bad that his anxiety was getting the better of him. But he was starting to wonder if he _could_ get them out of this situation.

Danny held up his good hand in a placating gesture. "I don't. I'm just saying that it doesn't hurt at the moment and we have bigger problems than me."

 _That_ stopped Steve cold and he moved so he was directly in front of his partner. "This isn't a good situation, I'm not going to lie to you. But you're wrong if you think that there is anything that is more important than getting you back to Grace." Once that floodgate opened, Steve found that he needed to finish. "I'm sorry, Danny."

Confused blue eyes lifted to meet his gaze. "For what?" A shiver ran through him and Steve couldn't help but notice that Danny was breathing shallowly and his lips were turning a darker shade of blue.

"Everything."

Danny's eyes widened and he tilted his head. "Everything? Like WWII, the stock market crash, or the fact that you never let me drive my car?" He was baiting the Navy man and he was doing on purpose.

"I'm going to go with the car thing." He swallowed the lump forming in his throat. "And for pushing you away when you got out of the hospital. It was my fault you were on that road and I just…" Steve leaned against the side of their watery prison and folded his arms.

Danny's eyes softened he pressed his lips together as he listened.

Steve whispered softly. "I'm not with—"

"Emotions? Gee, I never noticed."

Steve glared at him. "But with you? And Chin? And Kono? It's different. I can't loose you guys."

Danny nodded. "I know that. So do they. But Steve, you can't shove us out of your life when things go wrong. Because in this line of work, things will always find a way of going sideways on us." A wave of dizziness trickled through him and Danny closed his eyes in an effort to steady himself. He immediately felt the strong grasp of his partner, holding him up.

"Whoa there partner."

Danny raised his head and grimaced. "I am not a horse, Steven." And with that their reprieve was over. The winds started to howl again and the rain started slowly, but quickly picked up to a torrential downpour. Another shiver raced through Danny and he couldn't stop the chattering of his teeth. He found himself trying to find warmth and there was a whole slew of it next to him.

It only took Steve a moment to realize what Danny needed. He needed body heat. If they didn't get the detective's temperature up, he was going to fall unconscious again. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm going to hug you now." Steve said.

"I don't swing that way, Steve." Danny's words were split up by the chattering of his teeth. But he didn't move when Steve pulled him against his own body.

"Yes, I'm aware of that, Daniel. Neither do I. But if we want to survive the night? We need to stay warm."

Danny didn't answer and Steve looked down. His partner's head had fallen to the side and he was slipping in and out of awareness. "Come on, Danny. We just need to make it until morning. Stay with me."

There was a moment of stormy silence and finally. "Not going anywhere…gotta get home to Grace."

H50 H50

"You can't go back out tonight. I'm sorry." The pilot said with a level of compassion that most military personnel don't possess after years in the service.

"But they're still out there." Chin remarked. His gaze flickered over to Kono, where a medic was sewing up the gash in her leg.

"I'm aware of that, Lt. But until that storm lets up? It's too dangerous to fly."

Chin shook his head in frustration. They knew the general area where Danny was supposedly being held, but the arrival of the tropical storm had derailed search and rescue efforts.

"Sir?" A woman in uniform stepped up to the Captain and handed him a report. The man's face shifted and looked over at Chin.

"The storm has just been upgraded to a Catergory 1 hurricane."

TBC…

 **Author's Note** : _So here's the promised chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it. I'm working on the next chapter. So that should go up soon. Danny's going down hill and Steve can't help him. The storm has been upgraded and Chin and Kono are sidelined. It's going to be an interesting few days._

 **PLEASE REVIEW: Just let me know people are reading.**


	6. Meant to be Partners

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter Six** **:**

 _Meant to be Partners_

Chin stared at the taller man for a fraction of a second before he was gathering equipment. The 'situation' room was alive with activity. People were running here and there, conversations that he didn't care enough to listen to were happening all around him. The sound of the massive storm raging outside the protective walls of the building was like a knife in his gut. It was the sound of failure and it was…hellishly loud.

The sudden rush of blood inside his head drowned out any other thoughts, except that his friends, no his _family_ was out in this god-forsaken storm. And if they didn't find them? Chin gulped back the torrent of emotions that threatened to overwhelm him.

"Cousin?" Kono's soft call pulled Chin back into the room and he turned. She was leaning heavily against the wall, her leg bent in a rare show of pain. And yet it was the worried and terrified expression on her face that really caught his attention. There was also understanding and support reflecting out of her dark brown eyes. "You can't help them if you die out there too."

The words almost sounded as though they'd been ripped from her and a sudden choking sound had Chin crossing the floor and pulling her into a hug. The hitched breathing and shuddering, racking tremors that tripped through her slim frame were a testament to how deeply she was feeling this loss. And Chin found that he had a hard time controlling his own flood of emotions in the wake of Kono's.

Tears rolled down her face as she buried her head in Chin's shoulder. "I want to go too. Oh God, do I want to go. So bad it hurts. But you and I both know that if we do, we risk not finding them at all." She continued, wiping tears from her eyes. "And we'd be putting all these men and women in danger… _they_ …wouldn't want that."

Chin shook his head ignoring the tightness in his chest as his own eyes burned. "But it's Danny…and Steve. We can't leave them out there." Normally, Chin Ho Kelly was the strong silent type. He only spoke his mind when he felt the need and he generally didn't get too emotionally wrapped up in things. But the thought of losing those two men, the guys that had given him back some semblance of himself after HPD had written him off? It was too much. When he'd lost Malia, he'd thought that was it. Nothing could feel that earth shattering again. He'd been wrong. Losing the two haoles that he considered brothers? That was every bit as bad.

Kono pulled back and gently took her cousin's face in her hands so she could look at him. "Chin, we aren't leaving them out there. We _will_ find them, but we need these search teams to do it. You and I alone can't cover enough ground fast enough."

Chin deflated. He knew that she was right, but the pain of that realization made him want to find a corner and curl up, just letting the emotions crash over him in a tidal wave of grief. And yet, as he looked at his younger cousin and saw the strength and the hope there, Chin knew that he needed to do this the right way. "Okay. We'll give it some time to taper off." He finally managed.

H50 H50

Steve was willing to do damn near anything to take his mind off the current situation and he found his mind wandering to the first time he'd met the man that would become a brother to him. Danny was breathing raggedly and with their close proximity, Steve was _feeling_ every struggling breath.

The water was on the rise again and he knew that they didn't have much time before something had to change. Either the storm needed to wind down or his friend needed to climb back into consciousness. Because Steve couldn't mount a rescue when he was busy keeping Danny's head above water…literally. So, he let his mind wander, without really meaning to.

 _Four Years Ago-_

 _As a child he remembered the family outings in the backyard, barbecues, birthday parties, and surfing. Steve remembered Mary learning to ride a bike and then promptly falling over, right out there by those towering palm trees. The paint on the house was newer, but the McGarrett home still 'felt' exactly the same._

 _Now, walking back into his father's house might be the most difficult thing Steve had ever done. Nothing had changed. Not. One. Thing. The entire place was exactly the same. The same wooden chair leaning against the fall wall in the living room; the one that squeaked when you sat too far forward was in the exact same place it had been when he was sixteen. That exact creak in the third step as he headed upstairs. The way his father had kept all his trophies from pinewood derby racing, it was like a punch to the gut. And Steve's chest clenched as painful emotions flooded through him. John McGarrett had been such a creature of habit and holy hell did Steve miss his father._

 _Damn, even the kitchen smelled the same. He'd been brutally pulled back to reality when he'd seen the blood spatter coating the wall. His father's blood. Blood that had yet to be cleaned. Steve had stopped for a moment taking 'that' in and committing the grisly scene to memory. This was his fault. His tireless search for Victor Hesse had led to his father's murder._

 _His commanding officers had understood that he needed to go home for the funeral. They'd even insisted that he take some additional time to settle his father's estate, time that he'd tried to refuse, but was informed that he was taking anyway._

 _The SEAL had barely set foot on Oahu before he immediately started looking for clues. He couldn't help it. He was the son of a cop after all. But oh my god…taking those first steps out into the garage and seeing the black Marquis again? That had taken all the discipline he'd learned as a highly trained Navy SEAL. His heart clenched as he recalled telling his father they'd work on the car when he was home on leave. Truthfully? Steve hadn't intended on coming back to the Island…maybe ever. So much of his life had been blown apart on these Islands and he wasn't keen on reopening those wounds. His father had chuckled and told him 'he'd wait to work on the car till Steve could be there.'_

 _Steve hadn't had the heart to tell his dad that that day may not ever come. But when he pulled the dust cover back and looked at his own haggard reflection in the window of the car? He saw all the things that he'd 'never' get to do with his father staring back at him._

 _John would never meet Catherine, the woman Steve had been seeing casually for two years. She was great. But his life was so complicated and they were both career military, so she got it. His father would never see him promoted to Commander, the next step in his promotion line. Or children. If Steve ever had kids he'd assumed that his father would be there to teach them how to fish and track or where the best hiking trails were. And generally how to be good little people. Another regret wrapped itself around his heart and Steve had to take a moment and make himself look away._

 _The disappointment and pain was almost palpable. His father's words played through his head. "Listen champ…" John had never called Steve 'champ'. Not in his entire life, so that had to be a message._

 _His gaze swept the garage and landed on the red toolbox. And there emblazoned on the outside, were the words 'champ'. He'd barely finished listening to the recorder when a sound from inside the house caught his attention and he quickly replaced everything and sealed the box, spinning with his gun already drawn._

 _And that's when his life was irrevocably altered. That exact moment when he'd met Detective Danny Williams. The blonde man demanded to know who Steve was and what he was doing inside 'Danny's' crime scene. The fact that he'd refused to lower his weapon, even after Steve had explained who he was, had caused a begrudging respect in the SEAL. This loud blonde 'cop' thought that he was a match for a Navy SEAL? Really? What reality was this guy living in, cuz Steve really wanted to visit. The drugs must be great. But Danny wouldn't back down, not one tiny bit._

 _Even when Steve had been forced to make that call to the Governor taking on the task force, he'd known that Danny Williams was different. But he hadn't realized how 'different' until he'd gone to the HPD precinct and talked to Meka, Danny's partner and his current boss._

 _The guy had moved to Honolulu from New Jersey, where he'd been a homicide detective for the better part of a decade. He was admittedly good at his job, solving more cases than not. His partner really liked him, said he had great instincts and was learning the way the Island operated rather quickly. The guy had eighty-seven homicides under his belt, to be exact. Something about his dislike for unsolved puzzles. At least that's what his old partner had said. Steve knew before he knocked on Danny's door that he was going to railroad the other man into being his partner. The guy might not know the Island, or a pineapple from a coconut, but Detective Williams wouldn't have been at the precinct while Steve's father had been 'investigating' his fellow cops. So that meant that Steve could trust him._

 _And frankly, the moment the Jersey transplant had opened the door to his closet size apartment and Steve had seen the photo of cute little brunette girl, prominently placed on the only furniture in the place, he'd known. Danny was coming over to his task force. He looked around the horrid excuse for a home and noticed there was almost nothing in the place. Except for the bed, if that tragic excuse for a pullout couch could be called a bed, there was only a chair, a lamp (with dress shirts hanging off it) and a small kitchenette. It was a pretty poor excuse for an existence, but if the man was willing to live like this so he could be closer to his daughter? He was a good man. And Steve was in desperate need of a 'good man'. So he hijacked Danny's life._

 _Over the next four years Steve had learned just how 'good a man' Danny "Danno" Williams really was. And apart from his angry blow on the mountain, Steve had never regretted knocking on that door._

Movement hauled his wandering thoughts back to his current shitty situation and Steve realized that he was now shivering too. _That's not a good thing_ ; they needed to get out of this water. He was relieved when he felt movement from the man he was holding.

 _H50 H50_

Danny realized that he was warmer than he had been as he pulled his worn mind back to reality. He shifted slightly and hissed in pain. His arm was throbbing in sharp cracking pings of pain. The crack of the thunder above him wasn't doing anything to help the rampaging headache in his skull or the blurry vision.

"Try to stay still." Steve's voice brought his attention to the fact that he was being 'hugged' by his friend. Danny rolled his head up and looked at the barely visible, but intensely worried, expression on Steve's blurry face. He blinked slowly several times before looking down and realizing that his partner's hands were bound together in front of them. It made it feel a like he was being _squeezed_ rather than hugged. And frankly it kinda hurt.

"In my sock." Danny mumbled quietly.

Steve's gaze flashed down. "What?" He asked.

Danny swallowed and tried to take some of his own weight. He willed his rebellious legs to drop and straighten out. Eventually, the damn things obeyed. But he found that he had to stand on his tippy toes to keep his head from sinking beneath the chilly water. "There's a pocket knife in my sock."

Steve snorted in surprise. "They didn't search you?"

"Sure they did. But they were looking for my backup piece. Not a tiny little pocket knife strapped to my other ankle." He managed to shift and immediately felt colder when Steve's warmth disappeared from behind him. A bone-shattering shiver ran through his smaller frame and Danny ground his teeth together to keep them from chattering.

"Thought you got kicked out of the boy scouts?"

Danny frowned. "Grace tell you about that?"

"She might've mentioned it." Steve said quickly.

"Little gossiping monkey." Danny muttered fondly. Leave it to his daughter to tell the world that he couldn't hack it as a boy scout. Okay, so that wasn't really what had happened. He'd gotten caught sneaking in packages of starbursts and playing cards for the 'secret' poker games that the boys held down by the lake. Turns out, Danny hadn't been cut out to be a candy bookie.

"You gonna be okay for a few minutes while I get that?" Steve was genuinely worried, as he looked at the glazed expression in Danny's usually expressive eyes.

Danny nodded. "Yup…I'll just wait here and try not to drown."

Steve's eyes darkened and he scowled. "Not funny."

"It's a little funny." Danny shot back, a slight quirk to his lips.

The SEAL shook his head. "No Danny. It's not." There was no humor in his eyes and the detective realized that he was actually scaring his tough as nails, I-can-save-the-world, ninja powered partner.

"Steven, I'll be fine. Besides I always wondered how those ballerina's did it."

"Did what?"

He looked right at Steve. "Stand on their toes for so long." His partner tilted his head in realization.

"They have silky pink shoes for that." He looked down and realized where the water was on him and that meant that it was only a few inches from over taking the shorter man.

"I don't know, I think I can pull off pink…not sure about silky though." Danny forced what he hoped was a smile and not a grimace. "I mean, I'm pretty secure in my manhood, but there are limits."

Steve couldn't help the up turn to his lips. "Yes there are, buddy. The water's really that high, huh?"

Danny managed a nod. He couldn't really feel anything much below his chest. He was actually slightly grateful for that fact. His lower back wasn't zinging him with painful reminders of the car accident and the stab wound in his side was numb. _Probably should tell Steve about that…nah, he's got more than enough to worry about._ "Yeah." He finally answered.

Steve scanned their tiny cave and he could see, between flashes of lightening, that there were bubbles coming from something off to their left. He cataloged that for later use and turned back to his partner. "I'm gonna grab that knife and then I'm gonna get us out of here."

The Jersey cop simply pressed his lips together in a thin line. "And then what?"

"What do you mean, 'and then what'?" Steve retorted. "Then we get the hell outta here and get you to a hospital."

"I'm not saying no to a hospital, babe. But that storm sounds pretty bad, how're we getting out of this area to get _to_ the hospital? That's all I was asking." Danny was surprised that he was feeling as lucid as he was. Maybe it was the drugs finally working their way completely out of his system or maybe it was just the calm before the real pain hit and he threw up all over Steve.

"I'll figure it out." Steve answered quickly. He didn't sound very confident and the detective wasn't sure he believed his friend.

Danny shook his head. And Steve could feel the vestiges of their last argument working its way back to the surface. "We need a plan, Steve."

"I have a plan. Get out of this shitty tube before we drown and get you to a hospital." He didn't voice the other reason he was dead set on getting them both out. Danny's skin was almost grey now and he wasn't moving like he should. All his movements were sluggish and too deliberate to be pain free. Now that could be because he was standing on his toes trying to keep his head above the water, but Steve was pretty sure it was because his partner was getting ready to crash and when that happened? There wasn't going to be a damn thing he could to save Danny. And that wasn't acceptable. Steve was not losing Danny now.

Danny shook his head slowly and winced when a particularly loud boom of thunder cracked in the distance. The rain was still driving down in sheets and he knew that Steve was right. But god-dammit, Danny didn't want to be alone in this tube…not again. His fear was overriding his sensibility and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. The man had used up his quota of 'stay calm' for an entire year in the last two days.

"I'm just going to dive down and get that knife and then we're going to figure something out." His gaze drifted back to the bubbles. "I think I might have a way out."

Danny bit his lower lip as Steve's head disappeared beneath the black surface. All his fears of small spaces and drowning came crashing to the surface and his breathing increased to rapid little pants. He could feel himself getting lightheaded and yet, he couldn't stop it.

Starburst flashed in front of his eyes and he leaned against wall as the water lapped just beneath his chin. "Hurry up, Steve." He whispered desperately as he fought off the fear and the dizziness that was threatening to drown him. If he lost consciousness, he'd be underwater before his friend even knew it. Danny pulled on every scrap of Jersey attitude and forced himself to keep breathing. He even went so far as to picture Grace and every one of her birthdays. Both the ones he'd been to and the ones he'd miss if he died down here. He loses all awareness of time. _Come on, Steven. Where the hell are you?_

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Sorry I had to work this week and I wasn't able to sit down and write the next chapter until later than I'd planned. Hope you guys enjoy it. Got some cool visuals planned for the next chapter, what with Steve's rescue attempt and Chin's. Yup, the native Lt. isn't out of this yet. Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed. Much appreciated._

 **PLEASE REVIEW: This is my shameless request, thanks guys.**


	7. Flashes of Life

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter Seven :**

 _Flashes of Life_

They say that before you die, your entire life flashes before your eyes in a matter of fractured seconds. Danny had always thought that was some new age crap. He was going to have to redefine what he thought about that after this. As the water continued to rise and he finds himself spitting to keep it from overtaking him, his minded reflected back. Unfortunately it didn't pick those amazing moments that were scattered throughout his life, but the ones that had 'defined' his life.

Flashback

 _The day that Rachel had told him she was leaving him had been one of the most devastating of Danny Williams's entire life. He'd loved everything about being married. Coming from a rather large family, he had fallen into the routines of that life and then they'd had Grace and it had felt like a surreal, yet amazing, dream. And then the fights had started. It had been about small things at first. Like Danny's feet on the coffee table or the lack of a coaster under his sweating beer. His choice in movies, her choice in food had then made the top ten reasons why they fought…and the list went on and on._

 _In all fairness the fights really started after Danny and his partner had been called to a warehouse to check out a lead and it had turned out to be a trap. A local drug dealer had been looking to up his 'street credit' and the cost had been two cops. Danny and his partner Ben had been the ones to respond to the call. The jackass drug dealer had been delighted when he got two detectives instead of beat cops._

 _It had been bad. Danny had spent the next five days in ICU with everything from swelling of his brain and bullet lodged in his left leg to a collapsed lung and a shattered collarbone. Surgery had repaired the worst of the damage, but it had proven to Rachel that she could lose Danny at any time. She wanted him to quit. She never came right out and said it, but it was evident in everything she said and did from that day forward._

 _How could he tell her that being a cop isn't just what he did for a living, it was 'who' he was at his core. Danny was a pretty black and white guy and there weren't a lot of places where someone like him could fit in society. And when he'd decided against following in his father's footsteps as a Fire fighter, being a cop was the only other option he had._

 _When he'd gotten home from a particularly grueling day seven months, to the day, later. Danny had found the 'letter' on the table. He despised getting letters of explanation from people. Have the guts to say you're leaving him to his face. Don't take the chicken-shit way out and do it in a god-damned letter!_

 _The letter had laid out all his perceived faults in lovely scrawling blue handwriting._

 _Daniel-_

 _I have tried, I really have. But I can't do this anymore. It isn't fair to Grace and it isn't fair to me. When we met, I thought I'd met my prince charming. It turned out I was wrong. We have nothing in common. You like old gangster movies and I like the ballet. You're happy hanging out in your underwear watching football on the weekends and I want to go to the museum or a poetry reading. We're just too different and I thought you would change, I was wrong and that was my mistake. For that I'm sorry._

 _I knew who you were when I married you, but I didn't understand what that meant until much much later. I love you, I always will. But I can't be with you in this fight anymore. I would never ask you to choose between being a cop and your family. So I'm making the choice for you. Grace and I are staying with my parents in London for a few weeks and then, I don't know what we're doing, but we won't be coming back home if you're there. Please give me some time to figure out what I want, Grace can call you or you can call her anytime you want, but don't ask to speak with me. I need time._

 _Grace loves you Danno, so please be careful and don't take any unnecessary risks._

 _-Rachel_

' _Grave loves you Danno…' She'd said it right there in that letter. 'She' wasn't in love with him anymore. Yeah sure, she loved him in that 'you're the father of my child' sort of way, but that was it. It had been like someone had reached inside him and exposed his greatest weakness and then joyfully bludgeoned it to death._

 _Danny had slumped down into the small kitchen chair. His chest was tight with suppressed emotion and it felt as though he had had his heart torn out through his sternum. 'She'd left him?' Danny hadn't realized things were that bad for her. He reached up and scrubbed his hand over his stubbled face. The air inside the house was oppressive as he sat there trying to understand what he'd done wrong. It was completely belied by the unusually sunny day outside, soft golden light filtering through the slatted blinds and playing in graceful lines across his black leather loafers._

 _It was at that exact moment when he noticed just how quiet the house was. It was torture. There were no squeals from his happy little monkey upstairs in her pink room as she played with her toys. There was no laughter from his wife as she puttered around in the kitchen trying to figure out how to make some authentic American meal. It was just…silence. And it was killing him as surely as a bullet._

 _His hand dropped to the side and the letter that had just obliterated his entire existence slipped from his fingers and floated gently to the floor. Danny had packed his meager belongings and moved to a crappy motel up the block that same night. He couldn't stay one more minute in the house he'd bought for Rachel and Grace. It was too painful._

 _H50 H50_

" _Daniel, we need to talk." Rachel's voicemail had him cringing as he listened to it outside the house. Those were never good words and the fact that his ex-wife was calling him about something other than Grace's schedule couldn't be a good thing. Danny had inhaled sharply and dialed her number._

 _He hoped he got her voicemail, so that he could put the ball back in her court, and that he wouldn't have to actually hear what the woman had to say. Danny had never had good luck, and it wasn't about to change that day._

" _Daniel." Her accented voice pulled on his heartstrings in ways that still made him angry. He was a 'once in a lifetime love' kind of guy. She may have fallen out of love with him, but he was still totally and one hundred percent in love with her. And he hated the power that gave her._

" _Hey Rach." He managed after a moment. His blue gaze drifted to the small window and the blizzard that raged outside it._

 _It had been two years since the divorce and while he wasn't in a great place, he was better than he'd been in a long time._

" _I'm getting married, Daniel." She blurted it out like an order at a fast food restaurant. And the air froze inside Danny's chest. She'd met someone? When had that happened? And why hadn't he known about it?_

" _Am I supposed to congratulate you or warn him?" He couldn't stop the caustic remark._

" _That was mean, Daniel. Can we just dispense with the sarcasm for the moment? His name is Stan, he's a businessman."_

' _Great a businessman. Just about as far from a Jersey cop as you can get, Rachel'. He thought silently. He sank onto the chair in the tiny excuse for a living room and leaned forward, his detective's badge pressing into his stomach uncomfortably. He ignored it. "Stan? Fantastic. Why're you telling me this? We aren't married anymore and you don't owe me an explanation of what you're doing in your life."_

 _There was a long pause on the other end of the line. "Rachel? You still there?"_

" _Yes, I'm still here." She took a deep breath. "He lives in Honolulu. Grace and I are moving there."_

 _The room seemed to compress in and Danny surged up out of the seat, his hands clenching and unclenching in anger. "You can't do that. You can't take Grace away from me."_

" _Danny—"_

"— _No Rachel, that isn't how this is supposed to work. I've done everything you asked. I moved out. I leave you alone. We only talk when it's about Grace. I pay my child support every month. You can't just up and arbitrarily move five thousand miles. I'll never see Grace!" His heart nearly shattered in his chest at the thought of never seeing, or rarely seeing, his little monkey. He couldn't afford to fly out to Hawaii regularly and they would never fly Grace back to Jersey to see him. "I know you have primary custody, but come on Rachel. This is insanely unfair."_

" _It isn't arbitrary. We're getting married and that's where Stan lives. What do you want me to say here, Daniel?"_

' _Daniel, always with the 'Daniel'. Whenever she wanted him to act like her perceived notion of an adult, she would 'Daniel' him to death. "Don't 'Daniel' me, Rachel. There's no way the courts will allow you to take her away from me. Think about what you're asking me to go along with here." In his heart he was screaming that he was a good father. But the next words were a whispered plea. "Please don't do this."_

 _Her breathing hitched slightly on the other end of the call. "I'm sorry, Danny. But it's already set. I talked to the lawyer and he said that I can do this." And she'd hung up._

 _Just like that, his entire life was shredded._

 _H50 H50_

 _Danny simply stared at his partner in shock when Steve told him he was going to North Korea. Because really? Who in their right mind 'wants' to go to North Korea on some sort of secret op? And then it hit him, Steve would. The man would jump at the chance to use his skills in the pursuit of justice and the American way. Okay, so that might not be entirely fair, but it was accurate. It was this loyal and generous side of the SEAL that had actually drawn Danny to him in the first place._

 _To say that he had 'disliked' the military man when he'd first met him would be an understatement. Danny had seriously disliked the man that literally 'hijacked' his life. But as he'd worked with McGarrett on that first case, he'd come to respect the man and even kinda like him. Except when he was supposed to buy the beers and Steve would always, always, 'conveniently' forget his wallet. If Danny could pay his rent in the IOU's he had from Steve? He'd own a house in Diamond Head._

 _But the moment Danny had learned that his friend was headed off on some clandestine mission with Jenna Kaye, he'd been worried. He could feel it in his gut, this wasn't right. Something about the way she'd approached it with Steve had made Danny distinctly nervous. It wasn't that he didn't trust Jenna…at the time he had. Hell, she'd saved his life. But the way she'd come to Steve had just felt 'off'. And Danny hadn't been able to shake that feeling and then they'd learned that she'd been lying to them for the past three months._

 _The CIA agent hadn't been in Washington searching for her fiancé. She'd been staying in a beach house in Maui and then she'd talked the leader of Five-0 into coming with her to North Korea to save her lost boyfriend. And then there had been the moment that Danny had tried to call Steve and all he'd gotten was a whole lot of silence. That had ratcheted up his concern for his friend to full blown worry._

 _H50 H50_

 _The scene inside Danny's head shifted again and he found himself thrust back to the day that Rick Peterson had kidnapped Grace and held her while trying to make the Jersey cop murder Stan Edwards in cold blood. The fear from that day and the adrenaline he'd felt flowed through him as it replayed in perfect Technicolor inside his muzzy brain. The feeling of trying to explain to Stan that he had no choice. And then there was the instant thread of pain that had lanced through him when the businessman had asked if 'it was for Grace'. After a slight nod Danny had known that he couldn't actually kill this man._

 _As much as it pained him that Stan got to hold Rachel at night and that he tucked Grace in more often than her own father, he couldn't kill him…because Stan loved Grace too. And then there was Charlie. The son that had 'almost' been Danny's. The pain from that little revelation was still too fresh for him to process properly. He'd made the mistake of letting Rachel back in and she'd needled her way inside his still broken heart and then blown it apart…again. Danny loved being a father and the idea that he was going to have another child with the love of his life, had been…well; it had been terrifying, but amazing. But having her tell him that the child wasn't his? He couldn't have devised a better torture if he'd sat down and thought about ways to injure himself._

 _The sound of Steve's voice calling frantically from behind him had been the nail in the coffin of Danny's choices. With the arrival of his team, he could afford to act on his instincts and aim for Stan's shoulder and not his chest._

 _The instantaneous rage he felt when he saw Rick standing with Chin and Kono had only been tempered by the fact that he still needed the location of his precious monkey. But that hadn't been enough to stop him from shooting the man in the kneecap. Again, Steve had been there for the detective. He'd gone with Danny to retrieve Grace and then he'd stayed with Danny after he talked to Rachel that night._

 _The events of the day had been so galvanizing that Steve couldn't sleep. He'd been sitting on the back lanai when Danny showed up with an unopened bottle of fifteen-year-old Scotch and a need to drink. The SEAL hadn't hesitated and he had walked into the house and grabbed two glasses, setting one in front of his haggard blonde partner. He didn't say a word. He just waited for the other man to start talking._

" _I really would've killed him, Steve." Danny finally muttered after two glasses of the sixty proof alcohol. His hands were just starting to relax; the shaking that had been there before was slowly giving way to steadier fingers. But the rapid beating of his heart still had yet to slow and the cold dead feeling in the pit of his stomach wasn't letting up._

 _Steve downed his own glass and reached out to refill it. "No, you wouldn't." He turned to look at Danny. The usually bright blue eyes were distant and haunted. "You're not a killer, Danny."_

 _Something shifted in his partner's body language; there was a slight hitch to his breathing and Danny shook his head in sadness. "That's just it, Steve. I am." Danny leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees, the glass hanging limping in his hands. "I've killed men. Granted most of them deserved it, but…I don't know…I think I am…a killer. The only difference between me and the men I hunt, is the badge."_

" _Danno—" Steve didn't get to finish when his Jersey partner interrupted him in a soft, but steady voice._

 _Danny held up his hand to stop the denial on his partner's lips. "—Just think about it Steve. The first day we met I shot and killed a man and from there the bodies just keep piling up. I don't think I'm that 'good cop' that I started out as twelve years ago…I'm something else." He took another unsteady swig of the amber colored liquid and looked out at the darkness of the ocean._

 _Something about the coolness and the lapping of the ocean stuck inside his head, but he ignored it as he rolled the events of the night over and over inside his head._

 _H50 H50_

A sudden splashing pulled his wandering mind back to the present and Steve's head popped up above the water. He looked at Danny and frowned. He was actually holding his head back and struggling to keep his mouth and nose above the cold water. Danny turned so he side-eye Steve.

"You get the knife?"

Steve furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He'd been reaching into Danny's sock. The shorter man should have felt his fingers. "You didn't feel any of that?"

Danny shook his head. "No."

He cataloged that information. "I think I may have found a way out." Steve said as he sliced the plastic zip tie off his wrists. There was a slicing moment of pain as the blood rushed back into his cold fingers. Steve opened and closed his hands several times trying to warm them up. He reached out and laid his palm against Danny's forehead. The shorter man dipped below the surface and the SEAL was immediately reaching for him.

Danny came back to the surface spluttering water from his mouth. "Don't do that. How long were you down there anyways?" He groused.

"Long enough to get a look around. Sorry." He muttered.

"It's pitch black under the water. How did…you _think_ you found a way out? That's peachy, because I'm not sure how much more of this I can take, Steve." There was fear working its way into his voice and the SEAL turned to look at Danny and that's when he noticed that the storm had let up again. He looked up and the clouds were starting to part, a single thread of silvery moonlight shone down into their dark watery prison. "I think the storm is about done. Rain was still falling lightly, but it was more of the normal type for Hawaii than the torrential downpour of a tropical storm.

Steve frowned when he saw, clearly, what Danny looked like. The gash on his cheek was bloated and swollen and there was discoloration scattered over his pale face. A tiny trickle of blood had drained down between his eyes and there was a pink hue to his light blonde hair. _Oh, Danny…_

Danny hadn't even realized that. Too much of his concentration was being used just to stay alive. "Great. Can you tell me about this plan you've got? Cuz, I don't have anymore baseball line-ups to recite." He wasn't going to tell his partner that he'd been going over the moments in his life that had made him into the man he was today. Why his asinine brain had chosen this moment to show him all his failures was beyond him.

"There's an underwater passage to the left. I'm pretty sure it leads out into the ocean. Most of these lave tubes were formed from underwater volcanoes and they open up into the ocean floor." Steve stopped explaining when he caught the frightened and incredulous look on the detective's face. Danny had tilted his head toward Steve, so he could see him. "What?"

A shiver racked his body and he clenched his eyes as he rode out the pain it caused. "You're going to dive down and _hope_ that this 'underwater passage' leads out into the ocean? What if it doesn't? What if it doesn't lead anywhere and you drown down there? I've seen the discovery channel too, Steven. Not all of these thins go anywhere."

"What do you want me to do here, Danny?" Steve said in frustration. He couldn't climb out and Danny wasn't going to last much longer. Chin and Kono didn't know where they were, so he couldn't count on them for rescue and he wasn't going to stand around and watch his partner die.

Danny thought about that for a moment and the rational part of his brain was screaming at him that this was their only shot. He could feel his body starting to shut down.

Steve saw the shift in his friend's face and he reached out and laid a gentle hand on Danny's shoulder. "It's the only way we get out of here, partner."

"Just don't die." Danny finally managed past the lump in his throat. He was beyond tired and terrified at this point and he was starting to feel numb everywhere…even his brain.

"I'll do my best."

"No, Steven. That's not good enough. You promise me that you _won't_ die down there. If you can't find a way out, you swim your Navy SEAL ass back up here and wait with me. Promise me that Gracie isn't going to lose both of us down here."

"Danny what are you talking about?" Steve was genuinely confused. "She's not going to lose us."

Danny didn't answer. He didn't have the heart to tell Steve that he was already fading and that there was a very good chance he wouldn't be _above_ the water when his partner made it back up. "Nothing…just don't die." Danny whispered softly.

H50 H50

Chin was pouring a mug of coffee when Kono limped into the small break area. He turned and took in the ragged appearance of his cousin and sighed. "You feeling okay?"

She shrugged. "I'd rather be at home watching a game on television."

He couldn't stop the smile that pulled at the corners of his lips. "Yeah." He breathed out as he took a sip of the hot black liquid. "You talk to Adam?"

"I called him an hour ago. He's in Tokyo on business, but he said he'd catch the first flight out and help with the search." She limped over and poured herself a cup.

Chin watched her for a moment before finally calling her out. "What's on your mind, cuz?"

"What?" She said as she turned to look at him. "Nothing."

He raised an eyebrow and pointed to the small table. "Sit down before you fall down. And yes, there is most definitely something on your mind."

She huffed and gently lowered herself into one of the chairs. "I guess I'm just wondering if this is over."

"Why?"

"Well, the first message said that the guy wanted to make Danny and Steve pay for the deaths of those two scumbags. But there's no way he could have foreseen the storm. The national weather didn't even know it was coming, it was so fast. But, if he wanted to _know_ that Danny was dead along with Steve. Why take the chance?" She took a sip and then set the cup down. "Why not just put a bullet between their eyes and be done with it? I don't know, something about this just doesn't feel right."

Chin pressed his lips together in appreciation of his cousin's growing detective skills. Before he got a chance to answer, the captain burst into the room. "The storm has died down enough that we can fly."

They were both on their feet in a flash. Chin's brown eyes connected with Kono's for a moment before he answered the man. "Okay. Let's get back out there."

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _I really wanted to try to delve into some of Danny's past in this chapter and Danny's condition is deteriorating. This is how I chose to represent that. The next chapter will deal with the rescue itself and then the aftermath. So those of you that are worried about the boys, don't worry. It's almost over. Rescue is now underway. Both Chin and Kono are header out to look. Steve thinks he has a way out of the cave and Danny is trying to keep his head above water. But is this really over if they find our intrepid missing Five-0 members? We'll see._

 _Thanks to everyone that has reviewed. I so appreciate the kind encouragement and comments._

 **PLEASE REVIEW: It only takes a moment and is my single shameless request.**


	8. Blood in the Water

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter Eight** **:**

 _Blood in the Water_

Chin stared down at the slowly lightening skyline as the sun threatened to crest over the vast blue-grey expanse of ocean. It had been nearly two days since Danny had gone missing and fifteen hours since McGarrett had joined him on the missing persons list. The storm had finally petered out and now they were flying back with additional search parties to help find the two missing members of the task force.

There were a lot of things that Lt. Kelly could handle, but losing two team members to the same sick son of a bitch wasn't one of them. The way both these men had been there for him when…he choked slightly on the thought of Malia. His brown gaze drifted back to the horizon. They knew next to nothing about the man that had taken Danny. The only sure thing was that this man was ready to kill the detective and now he had Steve too.

One question was still making him uneasy. Why out here? What was it about this particular spot that had drawn the man here? Chin knew they were missing an important detail, he just didn't know what it was. He almost smiled when he thought of how Danny would've reacted to the puzzle pieces of his own abduction. The snarky blonde hated unfinished business, puzzles… _oh, even crosswords_. Chin couldn't count the number of times he'd left his copy of the New York Times crossword puzzle in the breakroom when he'd been called away to a case. Only to return and find it completed in the detective's neat blocky handwriting.

If anyone ever thought to question why the New Jersey native had such a big vocabulary? Consider the fact that he was completing one of most difficult crosswords on the planet earth…in pen…without mistakes. The guy was a hell of a lot smarter than people gave him credit for.

Chin shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. He and Kono had done some serious research while stuck inside the stuffy search and rescue building. They'd found several large lava formations that could be used to hide a person…or God forbid, a body. He ground his teeth together at that thought and turned to look out at the lush green foliage that was now speeding past below him.

He wished that his cousin were with him. It had taken some fancy talking to get Kono to man the command center. Her leg wasn't going to let her keep pace with Chin and the rest of the search team. _But good lord, try telling her that._ He understood her frustration, so he'd told his cousin that he needed someone to be his 'eyes' on the ground. She'd frowned at that and raised an eyebrow.

"Is this because I'm a woman?" She knew it wasn't. Chin wasn't one of those guys. But being left behind sucked, no matter the reason. Danny and Steve, they were her family too.

Chin lifted an eyebrow. "No. It's because you're hurt and I can't be worried about you while I'm trying to find them." It was a little more blunt than he'd intended, but Kono had simply nodded. Taking a deep breath to settle the unease in her gut.

"Keep my up to date on everything?" She asked. Her big brown eyes were brimming with unshed tears and Chin pulled her into a hug.

"We're going to find them." He answered softly. Chin didn't know if he was trying to convince her or himself. Either way, they were both seeking confirmation that this would work. Against all odds, they would find their friends...their family. Alive.

Kono's breathing hitched and he felt her nod against his shoulder. "Just make sure they're alive when you do."

Chin swallowed his own fears and pulled away so he could look at her. "That's the plan. I'm more of a _rescue_ than a _recovery_ kind of guy."

That drew a small smile from his cousin. And then he'd been gone.

Now as he looked out at the expanse of coastline they had to search, he wondered, if only for a moment…had he promised something he couldn't deliver? _No, I refuse to believe that the two most stubborn men I've ever met in my life are gone._ He inhaled deeply as the helicopter started to descend toward the flat plateau.

H50 H50

Danny watched as his friend prepared to dive below the water line. His stomach was twisting and turning in barely suppressed concern and fear. Breathing was getting to be a chore and his calves were cramping up something fierce. He was keeping his right arm immobilized against his stomach, but the quick jarring throbs of pain were a constant reminder that his heart was beating too fast. A shiver rattled through his body and he struggled to ignore the itchy, achy wheeze inside his chest.

Steve looked over at him and frowned. His partner's face was discolored with bruising and the puffed and bloated gash on his cheekbone made him look like some disproportioned alien on Star Trek. He knew from the video that there were a lot other injuries, which he couldn't see, lurking beneath the dark surface of the water. But once the storm had passed, he could hear the tight and painful wheeze to Danny's breathing and Steve knew he was rapidly running out of time.

"You sure you'll be okay?" A small part of him was scared shitless to leave the slowly fading detective behind. Danny looked worse than he had when Steve had first climbed back to consciousness. Now as he looked at his friend the unease only built at Danny's short fast breaths and his constantly drooping eyelids attested to the enormous strain being placed on his body. In the slowly lightening dawn, Steve could finally make out the blown pupil of Danny's left eye. _Great, so at least a grade 3._ He knew this because he'd seen the bastard knock his partner out on that god-forsaken video.

Danny managed a snort. "Kinda have to be, don't I?"

"You have a better idea? Cuz, I'm all ears." Steve shot back in irritation. Not at Danny, but the helplessness he was feeling in this situation.

The detective managed to throw a scowl at his overly confident partner. "No. I don't got a better idea." He pulled in a broken breath, the elephants playing soccer in his head really needed to take a break. His vision blurred and he blinked slowly before continuing. "But Steve? People die in these things. I saw it on the discovery channel." There was so much more that he wanted to say, but how does a person sum up one of the most important relationships in their life in a couple of words? It would sound too much like he was saying goodbye and that wouldn't help Steve at all.

"I swear to God, I'm cutting off your cable privileges when we get back."

Danny blinked innocently. "I usually watch it at your place."

"Fine. I'll just cancel the cable. I never watch it." Steve shot back.

"That's not nice, Steven. What am I supposed to do while you're off swimming fifty miles a day?" Steve ignored that and shook his head. So Danny continued. "Steve…if you go? You can't drowned."

"I'm not planning on drowning down there, Danny. But if I don't go, you and I are both gonna die." Steve was going to start blaming his own 'head injury' in a minute. He hadn't meant to say that to his terrified friend. He watched as Danny's eyes drifted closed in emotional pain. Steve had caught the flash of fear that had zinged across the blue depths before he hid them and got snarky.

"Maybe not. You can tread water for days. I mean you're a SEAL. They can't drown." The emphasis on 'you' was not lost on the commander as he narrowed his eyes at the blonde cop. He couldn't fathom the thought of losing Danny, not at this point. They'd managed to find him, while he was still alive and the military man had every intention of keeping it that way. But Danny had to fight. Steve couldn't fight for him, or God knows he would.

The SEAL finally huffed. "I can. You can't. And yes, a SEAL can drowned. But that's not going to happen, okay?"

"Okay...wait, are you saying you're better than me?" Danny was trying desperately to ignore the numbness climbing up his body and making its way toward his pounding brain. He'd managed to pull out of some truly harrowing situations based on his stubborn attitude in the past. This time it felt…different. He was holding out hope that Steve made it back alive, but he was pretty sure he was fucked.

"At treading water?" Steve glared. "Yes. But you're going to be fine, Danno. It should only take me four minutes at the most—"

"—Yeah, because after four minutes, you'll be dead." The words were far more honest than he'd intended and he saw the way that they _landed_ on McGarrett.

"Can you _not_ focus on the negative? Just this once, Danny?" He ground out. "Can you do that for me? Please?" _Fight, Danny. Just fight._ He thought silently.

Danny licked his lips and finally made an attempt at a nod that didn't send his head beneath the surface. The sun was starting come up and he was getting his first clear look at his partner. Steve had a nasty gash in his hairline, but that was about it. Other than being slightly pale, he looked pretty good.

"I can't promise anything…but I'll try." He finally forced out past chapped, bleeding lips, and a tongue that felt swollen with dehydration. Steve started preparing his lungs. "Hey Steve?" Danny's low stressed words pulled his attention back to his friend.

His gaze connected with the frightened one of the detective. "Yeah, Danny?"

"Don't die."

The SEAL thought about that before nodding. "I won't, if you won't."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Why does everything have to be a competition with you?"

Steve groaned. "Dying's a competition now?"

"No. _Not_ dying is the competition." Danny retorted.

The dark haired man raised an eyebrow. "Okay, winner picks the bar."

"Thought the loser—"

Steve didn't let him finish. Because there _couldn't_ be a loser in this one. "—There is no loser in this one, Danno. We both get out of here. Deal?"

A quick flash of Grace's face and her smile that could light up a room, and Danny knew he had to at least try. The worst thing that could happen? Grace has super-ninja-SEAL Steven McGarrett looking out for her for the rest of her life. There were worse things than that. Danny knew that as badly as it would affect his little monkey if he died…she would be okay as long as Steve was around.

Something flickered in the smaller man's blue eyes and Steve wasn't sure what that meant.

"Deal." Danny finally murmured.

H50 H50

Shoving the worry back so he could concentrate, Steve took several deep breaths before diving beneath the chilly waters. He was only going to get one shot at this and he wasn't going to waste it. He knew that this was it. This was their way out of the lava tube death trap they'd been dropped into.

The waters were far rougher the further down he swam and he found that he had to feel his way along the ragged sides of the submerged rock formation. An underwater tide smashed into him and he felt his elbow bash into the wall. A stinging sensation informed him that he'd been cut on the sharp rocks. Ignoring the injury he pushed forward. He didn't know how far he'd swum before his lungs started to burn uncomfortably and he was forced to consider going back. But the tube was narrow and Steve found that he couldn't turn around; his only option was to keep going.

Maybe he'd been wrong? _Shit, what if I was wrong?_ He thought. What if this wasn't the way out? Just as he was about to risk turning around in the tight space, the tube opened up into an underwater cavern and Steve's head burst out of the water and into the darkness. He heaved in and out a few times. There wasn't a lot of room, but there was air and he greedily pulled in several large gasps of the sweet oxygen. The air was stale, so he knew that it had been there for a while. Which meant he wasn't done swimming yet. But that didn't matter. It was a break and there was air.

As Steve looked around, it occurred to him that he could make out the general shape of the cavern and he wondered at that. Right up until he saw the incandescent sea urchins clinging to the walls, their soft blue/green glow allowing him to see in the otherwise pitch-black cave.

H50 H50

Danny started counting in his head the moment Steve's head disappeared. His calf muscles chose that moment to seize up and he dipped below the water, flailing out both his arms to bring his head above water. Pain shot up his right arm and crashed into his already anguished head. But it was the fire that raced through his back that had him gulping and then he was panicking as the water washed down his throat. The burn of the salty water was nothing compared to the realization that he could drown before he knew if Steve had made it.

He shoved his terror down and forced his shaking legs to hold him just above the water. Every soft swimming motion he made below the water was like knives slicing through his spine. His head broke the surface and he coughed and hacked the water out of his system. Heat was scorching his throat and his lungs were on fire, the tightness closing like a vice around his already abused lungs was evidence that he wasn't doing well.

But even during this ordeal, Danny never lost count. _Two minutes, fifty-seven seconds…_ He pushed over to the wall and tried to use his good arm to help stabilize himself as he desperately treaded water. It hurt…oh god, did it hurt.

"Three minutes, Steven." He croaked out.

H50 H50

Steven looked around the small cavern and bit at his lower lip. He raised his arm to see what kind of damage he'd done in the tube. There was a pretty deep laceration just below his elbow. It reached almost to his wrist and the blood was flowing freely. _Great, I'm bleeding and I'm swimming around in unknown waters._ Steve might have once told Danny, that the 'ocean is fine, the ocean is safe, as long you know what you're doing.' But that didn't mean that he was unaware of the many dangerous things that lived in the water.

And they all loved the smell of blood. Something brushed by his legs and he kicked out, hitting something solid and big. It immediately swam away. As much as the thought of not being able to see what it was freaked him out, Steve knew that if something that big was swimming in here? Then there was a way out. He licked his lips and pulled off his shirt, wrapping it around the wound on his arm. "Hang on, Danny." He muttered.

Steve carefully looked around the cavern and finally saw several ripples of water on the opposite side. They were steady and indicated that there was a tide or something feeding the waves over there. He swam over and dipped below the surface, using his hands to feel for the hidden tube.

When his questing fingers finally felt the solid wall give way to a tunnel. He swam back to the surface and took several very deep breaths before diving down and heading into another tube. He hoped like hell that this one connected to the ocean and didn't drop down into the bowls of the earth.

H50 H50

 _Five minutes, thirty-three seconds…_ Danny could feel the panic working its way along his gut and rolling up into his heart. Steve had been gone too long. While he knew that the SEAL could hold his breath longer than anyone the cop had ever met, he'd never heard of someone that could their breath for more than six minutes. Hell, even brain death starts before then. So when his count reached seven minutes his heart sank and the loss of his friend cracked his hope into tiny specks of dust.

He'd lost him. Danny had lost his best friend. The guilt was palpable. Steve wouldn't have been if not for Danny. The guy that had gotten him through some of the worst moments of his life in the last four years was gone and it was his fault. Whatever his physical injuries were, they were nothing to the torment he was feeling now.

The detective was reminded of something his mother used to say about his father. _He's the person I'd call if I needed to dispose of a body._

Well, Steve was that for Danny. Fuck, Steve had been there when Danny had gone off the rails with Rick and when he'd gone after that piece of shit cop that had killed Meka. He'd been in prison when Rachel left him…again. But Steve had done his best to comfort Danny and then again when he got out. He offered his home as a refuge from the constantly rising shit that seemed to be Danny Williams's life.

And then something gave. Snapped. Inside, Danny could feel it the moment his body gave up the fight. No amount of screaming inside his head was going to get his legs pumping again. Not even the thoughts of Gracie growing up without her father…and the stubborn SEAL would restart his body's fight to survive. As he slipped beneath the surface one last time, Chin's face popped up and he wondered if the older cop would take an interest and protect Grace now? Please watch out for Grace...

H50 H50

Chin ran along the top of the plateau. The search and rescue teams had explained that there was three lave tubes that extended straight up into the top of this area. And only two of those were big enough or deep enough to throw a full-grown man down. Even a small one, the size of Danny.

"Kono, we think we have a lead. Some of that green sand is specifically located along the plateau and there are some deep lava tubes that could be used to hide a…Danny." Chin barked the information into his radio as he nearly slipped in the mud. He groaned and threw his hand out, catching himself before he went all the way down.

"Copy that." Kono answered. She could tell that he was onto something and she wanted him to concentrate on that. So she bit back the questions that she desperately wanted to ask.

Chin hauled himself back to his feet and took off again. He could see the formation that marked the top of the tube just ahead of him. Two men were frantically trying to keep pace with the native as he jumped over a rock and then slowed, before approaching the top of the tube.

He leaned over and nearly swore when he saw the accumulation of water at the base. "Come on?!" He screamed out at the universe in general. This couldn't be happening. Even if Danny had been down there, the shape he'd been in? He wouldn't have survived two days of treading water. Chin sank back onto his heels and wiped his hand down his face, exhaustion suddenly wrapping around him.

Something…and he'll never know what…made him look over the edge one last time before he move on to the other tube. A second team had gone there, while he and his team and come to this one. It was the bigger of the two and he suspected that it would be the perfect dumping ground for a kidnap victim.

A flash of blonde hair caught his attention and he leaned forward trying to get a better look at the bottom. He squinted into the darkness and…there it was again. _Danny…_ and then it disappeared beneath the inky surface.

"Danny?!" Chin cried when he saw his friend sink without so much as a whispered breath.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Sorry the site was weird this week. Couldn't post anything, because I couldn't log in. Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed._

 _Just a quick response to a readers question as to why Danny thought Steve would be back in four minutes? Danny's not all that lucid at this point, the fever and his bodies response to the trauma has taken a tole on him, not mention the nasty concussion and lack of sleep. He can only focus on the fact that a person has generally be considered a drowning victim if they're under water more than roughly four minutes. It never occurred to him that Steve would need longer if he actually made his escape in the tunnel._

 _You guys are awesome and amazing and phenomenal. Thank you._

 **PLEASE REVIEW: Let me know what you thought of this one. Please.**


	9. Close Call

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter Nine** **:**

 _Close Call_

 _It wasn't the horrible images that Danny thought waited for him in death, that drove the cop to do something he didn't believe his body was capable of at this point. He was afraid and he was feeling the loss of Steve so keenly that he couldn't breath. As the water closed over his head, he remembered the promise he'd made to his friend. But had Steve died? Danny didn't know. So was he giving up on his friend by assuming that he was gone? Thoughts were floating through his head in fractured fragments that only made partial sense. That if Steve lived...then Danny would too._

 _There were other images that begged him to fight. His mother's apple pie and her broad happy grin every single holiday that he'd been able to go home after he'd moved to Hawaii. The sight of his father the day he'd graduated from the academy. He'd thought that his father would be angry that he'd chosen to join the department rather than follow in his father's footsteps as a fire fighter. And he had been...at first. Then something miraculous happened. His younger brother Matthew had stood up for Danny's choice._

 _It hadn't really been an argument between Matt and their father. More of a calm explanation of 'Danny'. Who he was as a person. Danny had been pretty sure he wasn't supposed to overhear, but he couldn't walk away as he listened to his younger brother lay out all his accomplishments to their father._

 _Danny hadn't seen or talked to Matt in over three years, not since he'd boarded that plane and told Danny to either let him go, or shoot him. 'What the fuck, Matty?!' He'd thought furiously. There was no way that Danny could shoot his baby brother. But he hadn't honestly thought that he'd 'never' talk to Matt again. So as the water found it's way into his nose and throat, a fire sparked inside as Danny flashed through all the things he still had to do._

 _One of them was find Matt. 'And kick his ginormous ass.' But Danny had to find him first. The next was to keep his promise to Steve. And then there was Grace. So he fought through the crippling pain and the hazy images. He fought for the surface..._

 _H50 H50_

Chin grabbed onto the closest search and rescue guy. "Give me a harness! Now!" He barked, his eyes frantically searching the water for Danny. Something was thrust into his outstretched hand and he hurriedly yanked the harness into place. Someone behind must have suspected something, because the man was already securing an anchor, so Chin could repel into the tube. The early morning air was thick with mist as the sun drove higher in the sky and the residual rain misted down on the rescue team.

Only in Hawaii could it be sunny and still managed to _mist_ on them. The smell of the wet foliage and mixed with the dirt and sand was coming together to create a scent that Chin would never forget. He'd lived on the Islands his entire life and he knew that this _smell_ would remain with him in ways nothing else ever had.

A man's voice wafted over the air. "One of them down there?"

Chin simply nodded as he slipped the figure eight onto his karabiner, locked it out, and then ran the rope through metal device. Before anyone could ask another stupid question, the cop was dropping over the edge of the lava tube. His gaze never leaving the water as he expertly repelled down the black rock sidewall. Chin dropped carefully into the chilly water, letting the rest of the rope slide through his fingers as he started reaching frantically beneath the surface. He had a vague idea where Danny had gone under, he just hoped it wasn't too late.

"Danny?!" Chin's heart was racing. His legs felt rubbery when they settled into the floor and he was shocked to find the water just below his ears. He had to actually tread water to keep his head above the surface after splashing the collected H20 into his mouth during his search. "Danny?!" He called out again as he spun as quickly as the cold water would allow… _come on, Danny. I know you're here. Fight…fight, buddy._

And then he saw the New Jersey detective's head burst out of the water only to immediately sink beneath the surface again as he gasped uselessly. "DANNY!" Chin swam to where he'd last seen his friend and he nearly choked on the relief that flooded his system when his fingers closed around something solid. _A shoulder_.

He pulled with all his strength and Danny's blonde head popped up and the cop coughed several times before going limp against Chin's chest. "Danny, you're okay, brah. You're going to be okay. I got you."

Chin's dark eyebrows cut down in worry when Danny didn't answer. In fact, the smaller man didn't even move as he was manhandled by the Lt. The only consolation was that Chin could feel the shuddering breaths that were rattling through the detective. And if he was breathing? Then Danny's heart was also beating. Jersey was the toughest cop that Chin had ever met, since he didn't consider McGarrett a cop. The man was a navy trained SEAL through and through, but Danny? He bled blue…officer blue.

"Danny? Can you hear me? Gimme a sign here, brah." He asked worriedly as a shadow fell over him and two of the rescue personnel dropped into the water with a wire basket stretched between them.

"Lt., let us take it from here." The taller man said. His face washed in and out of Chin's vision as he scanned the area looking for any sign of their leader. He was extremely concerned about the fact that while they'd found Danny. Steve was nowhere to be seen. So his work wasn't done yet.

The two men gently took Danny's unconscious form and laid it in the basket, before hooking it up to the dual rope lines and having the team at the top carefully raise their precious human cargo to safety. Chin watched as the racking coughs and violent tremors rocked Danny's body.

Before he worried about ascending the wall, he pulled out the radio and called Kono. He knew if it had been him left behind, he'd be pacing a hole in the floor waiting for news. And Kono was no different. Probably ran in their stubborn native blood or something.

He clicked the radio on and asked. "Kono?"

The immediate crackle of the radio let him know she'd been waiting for his call. "Yeah, cuz. I'm here. You got anything?" Her voice was hopeful.

"We got Danny." He hesitated before telling her the rest. "He's alive—"

Kono had never been known for her patience. "—and Steve?"

"He wasn't here. I'm going to keep searching. Can you meet the rescue team? They're coming back with Danny and I don't want him to be alone. He's been alone for two days already."

"I'm on it. How is he?"

Another long pause before he answered his cousin. "He's alive, but it's going to be a tough recovery."

He heard her breathing hitch in support before she responded. "He won't be alone, Chin." She had no intention of leaving the detective to fight this battle on his own. He'd already beat the odds just by being alive and they sure as hell weren't going to lose him now.

H50 H50

The water pushed relentlessly at Steve as he swam. He was reminded of a story that Danny had told him about getting caught in a riptide that had nearly drowned him as a kid. Steve had always known to swim parallel to the shoreline when the riptides were strong, but as the immense power of the ocean threatened to overtake him and he could see how a person could just give up. Not that he was the type of person that would _ever_ give up, but he got it. So much power. Power that he had zero control over. The walls of the tunnel he was swimming through seemed to be closing in on him and it was making him more than a little nervous.

When this was all said and done…if he survived…there was a good chance that he might have a bit of the fear that seemed to paralyze Danny. Claustrophobia.

Just as Steve was deciding that this had probably been the second biggest mistake of his life, he saw the deep blue of the ocean spanning out before him. His lungs were burning and he was seeing deep black spots at the edges of his vision. His arm had gone blissfully numb from the cold water and his muscles were starting cramp from the exertion. But it was all for Danny, so he _had_ to make it.

He popped out of the narrow opening of a tiny little sea tunnel and immediately kicked for the bright surface above him. Steve had no idea how long he swam, but it felt like years. He was beginning to doubt as to whether or not he'd actually make it to the surface. His vision was starting to collapse in and he was only seeing a tiny speck of light when his head burst above the rough waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The SEAL heaved in great gasping breaths as he floundered to keep his head above the water as the tide pulled him further out to sea. After a moment of just sucking in the amazing air, Steve tried to focus his thoughts enough to figure out where the shoreline was. He ignored the strained complaints of his overused muscles and forced himself to turn in a circle until he spotted the rocky coves maybe a quarter of a mile behind him.

Normally, that swim would be a simple warm up for him. But Steve was tired. His arms felt leaden and his legs were cramping up painfully. Danny's face popped in front of him and he ground his teeth together and started paddling for the shore. He couldn't let his friend down.

H50 H50

Kono was standing on the tarmac when the helicopter landed at the search and rescue base to transfer Danny to a medevac unit. The search was still in full swing and they needed to refuel and get back to Chin's location.

The youngest member of the Five-0 team limped forward, her eyes searching for her friend and co-worker. When the men pushed back the door and jumped out, frantically grabbing a stretcher and hurrying to the waiting medical transport…Kono got her first good look.

Her hand made it to her lips to stop the bile from turning into a full-blown vomit fest. She was terrified at what she saw there. Danny looked dead. His pale face was grey, his normally blonde hair sat limp and lank, plastered to his face in sticky strands of dirty brown. A gash on his face was obviously badly infected and it was making him look slightly distorted. She rushed to meet to the meet the paramedics as they carried him.

"Office Kalakua. I assume you're riding with us?" The woman asked as she helped pull Danny into the waiting helicopter and secure him for another transport.

Kono couldn't quite find her voice as she stared wide-eyed at her teammate…she managed a nod. She could hear Danny's breathing and it wasn't good. He had IV's sticking out of his left elbow. Which mean they couldn't find the veins in his hand to insert the needle. _Dehydration_. Her mind supplied. Danny's right arm was bound to his chest and there was a strap securing it there. It was swollen looked extremely painful, the way the skin was stretched over the broken bones. The rest of Danny was buried under a white blanket. At least it had been white when the paramedic had covered the detective with it. Now it was more of a dingy color, from lying against his dirty skin.

"You can sit over there. It's about a twenty minute flight to Hilo."

Kono nodded and sank into the seat before she started reaching out to take Danny's left hand and then suddenly pulled back. She was afraid she'd hurt him. She raised worried brown eyes to the paramedic. "Can I touch him?" It was soft. Like a plea instead of a request.

The woman smiled gently. "Of course. Just be mindful of his injuries."

Kono nodded before gingerly taking Danny's cold hand between her warmer palms. She gulped back the fear when he didn't respond, but held on as though _his_ life depended on it. Because she had a feeling, it just might. "We got you, Danny. Hang on just a little longer."

There was a shudder and the whine of an engine as the transport lifted up and started the longest twenty-minute flight Kono had ever experienced.

H50 H50

Steve had pushed past his limit. Limits that he'd never reached before, but ones that he now knew existed as surely as he knew that it would rain this week in Hawaii. The shore had seemed so far away when he'd started stroking his way toward it. His concern for the sharks, that he knew infested these waters, receded to a distant memory as he simply tried to stay afloat. His mind kept coming back to Danny. Always to Danny and whether or not his best friend had managed to defy the odds and stay conscious.

Steve knew that he was only able to hold his breath for about four and half minutes and that meant that where ever he was now? It had to be close to where Danny was.

The sun was now fully shining on the horizon and the reflection off the water, _or the dehydration and blood loss,_ were making Steve see things. Like right now, he would swear on his life that Chin was waving his arms frantically on the rocky shores of the Big Island. But that couldn't be right, because the older man had no idea where Steve had been taken.

 _Did he?_

Steve felt his reserves start to wain and he struggled to keep kicking. Maybe it was seeing the mirage of Chin. Maybe it was the rapidly approaching rocks of the shore. Did it matter? Because without his strength to guide his body past the razor sharp edges of the lava rocks? Steve was going to be bashed to death between the surf and the land.

He felt his head dip beneath the surface as the currents grabbed onto his legs and tried to haul to the depths of the sea.

H50 H50

Chin watched as his relief at seeing McGarrett swimming in from the ocean turned into horror. Steve was pulled beneath the waves, caught in the strong currents. This was a known section of the big Island for accidental drowning, due to unpredictable changes in the water. And Steve was smack in the middle of that area.

Plus there were no 'white sandy beaches' along here. It was all tide pools and lava formations.

The native hawaiian didn't even consider his own safety as he dove into the pulsating water. He breached the surface and swam as hard as he ever had. McGarrett's head popped above the water, but now there was fresh blood running in a watery line from his hairline down the side of his face.

"Steve!" He managed to call out when his eyes finally caught, and held, the other man's gaze. Strong, quick strokes were quickly closing the distance between the cop and the SEAL.

The closer Chin got, the more his concern was turning into worry. Steve was blinking sluggishly and his swimming technique was a far cry from the practiced ease he generally cut through the water.

Chin finally managed to get his arms around McGarrett's upper body and help to keep him above the choppy surface of the ocean. He stared rescue-swimming back toward the shore before either of them could utter a word.

"Danny?" Steve choked finally out. He was kicking ineffectually along with Chin as he allowed his exhausted body to be hauled by his friend.

"I got him, Steve. He's on his way to the hospital in Hilo." Chin hadn't realized that the search and rescue guys had swum out after him. One of them was pulling the ripcord on an inflatable raft. There was a hiss and a 'pop' and then the two men were helping to lift Steve into the small life raft.

"Alone?" Steve uttered softly. His eyes rolling over to connect with Chin's concerned gaze.

The native inhaled deeply for the first time in two days as he settled next to Steve. They'd found both of them and they were alive. "No. Kono's with him."

He watched as Steve's eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped into the darkness of unconsciousness. Chin's eyes flashed over to the rescue team, the question evident without him asking it.

"Don't worry. He's breathing deeply. Pretty sure this is just exhaustion finally catching up with him." The younger man gently picked up the arm wrapped in a stained pink shirt. He frowned when he saw the edges of the wound were still seeping blood and from the looks of it, that had been happening for a while. "Maybe some blood loss too." He added.

The 'whump', 'whump', 'whump' of the approaching helicopter could not have been more welcome as the misty rain finally stopped all together. The sun was shining brightly overhead and it looked to be a beautiful day on the Islands.

They'd found both Danny and Steve…alive. Now, they just had to keep them that way.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Yay! Chin and Kono get to be the heroes in this one. Well sorta…Steve was trying like hell and Danny didn't give up. But now there's the harrowing hospital scenes to come and then…dun dun dun…the guy that abducted them is still out there. And we're back to Danny and Steve POV's after this, with snippets from the cousins._

 _Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed the last chapter. Much appreciation for your time and encouragement._

 **PLEASE REVIEW: And there may be another chapter this weekend. Yes…I'm bribing you.**


	10. A Reason to Fight

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter Ten** **:**

 _A Reason to Fight_

Kono watched as Danny was rushed through the double doors of the hospital in Hilo. She was wringing her hands together as fear and worry tripped through her entire body, it was an old habit she'd started as a kid. Danny had stopped breathing on the ride over and they'd spent the last ten minutes of the flight breathing for him artificially. Luckily his stubborn heart seemed to refuse to quite beating, so that was something.

The paramedic had explained some of the injuries that were threatening the cop's life and Kono had bit her lip as she listened. Danny had a life threatening infection because of the stab wound in his side, that was their most immediate concern. He also had a grade three concussion, which could lead to coma or death, she'd kinda tuned out a little when the woman brought up a coma…but then she'd heard 'death' and that had brought her attention back like a splash of ice water.

The other injuries were being compounded by fluid in his lungs, probably salt water. So pneumonia was a rising concern. Danny's right arm had been re-broken at some point along the way and he had nasty contusions all over his body. The one gash on his face was also infected and the list seemed to go on and on.

Finding Danny alive had been sheer luck. If they'd been even twenty minutes later, he would have been dead. That thought was so painful that Kono shoved it down into the bowls of her gut. Her phone went off and she jumped in surprise before pulling it out…Chin.

"Chin, did you find McGarrett?" She didn't even bother with a 'hello'.

Her cousin's voice was strained, but not like it would have been if they'd found a body. "Yeah, he swam in from the ocean."

"Whoa wait, the ocean? What the hell was he doing in the ocean?" Kono wiped at tired eyes before sinking down into one of the hard plastic chairs in the waiting room. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd eaten. The black coffee she'd drank this morning was sitting like sludge in her stomach now.

Chin groaned. "I didn't get a chance to ask him. He passed out. How's Danny?"

Kono swallowed hard before answering. "He's bad, Chin."

There was a brief silence before her cousin's voice caught Kono's attention again. "How bad, Kono?"

"Uh, infection, pneumonia probably, and there is a lot of other small medical problems that are adding up to big medical problems." She couldn't go through the laundry list of injuries to their favorite Jersey cop right now. Kono knew she was barely holding it together as it was.

"Will he be okay?" The words were soft, but firm.

"I uh…they don't know. If he makes it through the next forty-eight hours…maybe." Her voice hitched as emotion finally broke through.

Chin was silent for a moment as he listened to his cousin cry. "They're going to be okay, Kono. We're not losing them now."

She nodded, but didn't answer.

"We're just getting ready to land, I'll find you as soon as they get McGarrett inside."

"Okay." She managed before she heard the 'click' of the phone. Kono slowly lowered her hand and stared at the small device without really seeing it.

 _H50 H50_

 _It had happened when he'd been young; the knowledge that he wanted to be a cop. And man, had that gone over like crap with his fire fighter father. Danny was standing in the kitchen with the acceptance form to the Newark Police Academy. He'd managed to hide the fact that he was majoring in criminal justice in college, but there was no way he could hide this._

 _The metaphorical 'cat' was definitely coming out of the bag now. He pulled in a slow breath and bit at his lower lip before finally walking into the kitchen. Danny's father was standing near the counter, his hands fist deep in some bread dough. An apron strapped to his chest, 'If you can't stand the fire, get out of the kitchen' scrawled across the bright red fabric._

" _Danny? I didn't know you were coming home this weekend." His father smiled and Danny felt his chest tighten. He was about to wipe that grin off his father's face and that sucked._

" _Uh, yeah…graduation is next week, so there's not much going on around campus." Danny started to step forward, but stopped when he realized that he didn't know how to start this conversation. He was a very verbose person and not knowing which words to string together to get his father's support was unchartered territory for him._

 _His father nodded and Matthew came barreling into the kitchen, a hockey stick in one have and a pair of roller blades in the other. "Danny!" The younger William's boy threw his arms around his older brother; Danny hugged the boy back effortlessly._

" _Hey, Matty." His blue gaze dropped to the new roller blades. "They fit okay?"_

 _The boy's face nearly split with the wide grin that went from ear to ear, his brown eyes sparkling with mischief. "They're perfect, Danny. Thank you."_

" _Sorry I couldn't get home for your birthday last weekend." Danny had had two finals that required some serious study time and missing Matt's birthday had been the price._

 _The boy snorted. "That's okay, school's important."_

" _Stop pestering your brother and go play." Their father's voice interrupted the reunion and Matty grinned again before racing out of the house._

" _He'll break his arm you know." His father's amused voice pulled his attention back._

 _Danny raised an eyebrow at that. "Dad, he'll be fine." He gripped the papers tighter in his hand and then stepped forward. "Can I talk to you for a second?"_

" _Sure, son. What's up?" He grabbed a towel and wiped off the excess flour before gesturing to the dining room table. Danny's gaze shifted around the homey kitchen and he sighed. His mother had a thing with apples and the cute little designs that were all over the kitchen were doing nothing to make Danny feel better about what was to come._

 _Danny sat down, but he found his leg bouncing nervously beneath the table. "I graduate next week."_

 _His father laughed. "I know that, son. Got the time off from the department so your mother and I can attend the graduation on Thursday."_

 _Danny grimaced and tuned away for a moment before pushing on. "Which means that I needed to find a job."_

" _I already talked to the Newark fire academy, they're expecting your application." It was said so matter of fact that Danny wanted to scream. In his father's eyes it was a foregone conclusion that he was headed into the fire department. But Danny had 'never' wanted to be a fire fighter. He couldn't imagine being confined inside the mask or having to crawl through tiny spaces trying to rescue someone. Even the mere thought of being in a small space had his heart pounding in his chest._

 _His response came out more bluntly than he intended. "I got accepted into the police academy…I'm gonna be a cop, dad."_

 _He watched as his father's face turned three shades of red before he finally simply nodded and headed back to the ball of dough on the counter. Within seconds he was punching the shit out of the bread. Danny winced at the rough treatment and knew that this had gone down exactly like he thought it would. His father was pissed with a capital 'P'._

 _Danny blinked a few times and then finally hauled himself to his feet, gabbing the letter. He'd been so excited about this and he'd hoped that his father might surprise him…looks like he'd been fooling himself. He didn't say anything as he left the house. He could hear Matty laughing up the street and he gulped back the emotions swirling around before he crawled behind the wheel of his old Buick._

 _The unfamiliar sting of tears had him swiping at his eyes as he shoved the key into the ignition. For someone like Danny Williams, family was everything and the thought of disappointing his father was like being stabbed in the heart._

 _The scene shifted and Danny found himself inside his old apartment…the one he'd gotten when he'd first moved to the island. It was tiny and smelled like mold, but it was all he could afford after the expense of moving. The rap on his door had him jumping to his feet._

 _He yanked it opened and leaning heavily against the door was Steve. But he looked like hell. Bruising all along the left side of his face and a trickle of blood dripping from his hairline had the detective immediately trying to usher Steve inside._

" _I can't come in, Danny." Steve said in a broken voice._

 _Danny stopped and stared at his friend in confusion. "What? Of course you can. You look like hell, Steve."_

 _Steve managed a nod and then his face scrunched up in pain. He doubled over and vomited on the floor of Danny's shitty apartment. So now it smelled like mold and vomit, not a great mixture. "Hey man…come on. You need to sit down before you fall down."_

" _I can't, Danny."_

" _You can't what, babe?" Danny asked as he tried to hold his friend upright._

 _Steve's voice cracked and he started to pitch forward, "I can't do this without you." The SEAL collapsed to the floor and didn't move._

" _Steve!" Danny cried in surprise. He knelt next to his friend and placed shaking fingers on his neck, searching for a pulse. A slowly weakening 'thump thump thump' fluttered against his fingers. "Come on, Steve." Danny said softly. "You're not in this alone, man. You aren't going to lose me. But you gotta fight, brother…you gotta fight."_

 _H50 H50_

Steve started to rouse just as the emergency team was helping remove him from the life flight helicopter. His entire body was a mass of pain and it culminated in his head, which was threatening split open. His thoughts were fuzzy. Something about swimming…but that was unusual, he swam every day. But there was something else. A particularly painful slice of pain had him grimacing.

"Whoa, Steve?" Chin's worried voice cut through the haze of pain and Steve forced heavy eyelids open.

It was bright. And he immediately squeezed his eyelids shut again. He started to move his hand up to rub his eyes, but Chin's gentle touch held it in place on the gurney. The nurses and doctors were all talking at once an Steve couldn't understand a single thing they were saying, it was like listening to a hive full of bees.

"Danny…" He finally croaked out. His entire face screwed up in a mixture of pain and anxiety.

Chin stopped the procession of medical personnel. He knew that this was one answer that Steve needed to have. "He's alive. We got him out, Steve." He watched as the commander's face relaxed and he slipped into unconsciousness again.

H50 H50

 _Steve was sitting on lanai at his house, a cold beer in his hands. He stared out at the massive expanse of ocean and tried to understand the anxiety that was tripping through his chest at the sight. Normally the ocean was a calming influence for him, but today it was like the sea was trying to tell him something…something important._

 _He lifted the beer to his lips and took a long drink before he leaned back in the chair and continued to stare out trying to decipher the puzzle._

" _Got another one of those?" Danny's voice interrupted and Steve's eyes flashed over and he dropped the beer. The amber liquid spilled into the sand as he surged to his feet in shock over his partner's appearance._

 _Danny was hunched over, his face beat up and his right arm held tightly against his chest._

" _Danny?! What the hell happened?" Steve was immediately trying to settle Danny into the chair next to him, but the Jersey cop just waved him off._

" _Nothing a cold beer won't fix." He quipped. His voice was tight and low as he continued to stare at Steve._

" _You need a hospital, buddy."_

 _Danny shrugged and them grimaced in pain. "Probably." He said._

 _Steve was still trying to get him to sit, but Danny just stood there in the sand…bleeding. There was obviously something that he wanted to say and Steve was getting more and more concerned the longer his friend remained silent. "What is it, Danny?"_

" _Why did you leave me, Steve?"_

 _And in a rush of memories Steve recalled the last two days. Danny being taken, the fear that he would never see his best friend again and the relief when he'd found Danny alive. Then there was the immediate guilt that he couldn't save Danny from the lava tube._

" _I had to get help, Danny." He defended._

 _Danny swallowed. "No, not in the tube…why did you leave me alone all these weeks? I needed you. I needed my friend and you left me alone. "_

 _The guilty wash of emotion was enough to steal the breath from Steve as he stared at Danny. He hadn't been able to deal with the depth of emotion that this damn snarky New Jersey cop elicited from him. Steve connection to Danny went as deep as the one to his sister or his father. Danny was the brother that Steve had never had and now he was standing, 'no hunching', in Steve's backyard and asking why the SEAL had abandoned him when he needed him most._

" _You gotta fight…" Danny whispered._

" _I…I'm sorry, Danny. I will. I'll fight." Steve had no idea what he was supposed to be fighting, but he would fight the devil himself to save his friend. He managed to murmur the words right before the detective's strength gave out and he collapsed on the sand in front of Steve. "Danny!" He tried to move to the crumpled form of the blonde cop. But he was frozen in place…all he could do was watch as Danny bled out on the sand._

H50 H50

Chin heard the whine of a heart rate monitor and he rushed to the double doors, staring through them as a crash cart was pulled next to Steve. His hand flew to this mouth and he bit at his lip as the doctor's tried to restart his friend's heart.

"Come on, Steve…fight." Chin mumbled as people fought to save Steve's life.

H50 H50

No one seemed to notice the two Asian men standing near the sliding glass doors. They were watching as the leader of Five-0 was wheeled past the 'no admittance' door and into the emergency room. Both of the men's faces were blank, but there was a distinct look of menace hanging around them. The taller of the two looked over at his partner and jerked his head toward the door.

Once they were outside, he finally spoke. "Boss ain't gonna be happy about this."

The other man shook his head. "No, he is not."

"What do you wanna do about it?"

The shorter man, with the Russian accent narrowed his eyes. "Wait. We wait until they're alone and then…people die all the time in a hospital."

The other man simply nodded and they started toward the black car waiting in the parking lot.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Again, life reared its ugly head and I wasn't able to get back to my computer until today. Sorry about that. So it's not over and both Danny and Steve are in rough shape…can Chin and Kono catch the men responsible before they finish the job?_

 _Thank you to everyone that read and reviewed, much appreciated._

 **PLEASE REVIEW: Just let me know what you thought of the latest chapter.**

7


	11. Bond of Brothers

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter Eleven** **:**

 _Bond of Brothers_

Steve could feel the painful return of consciousness. His chest hurt. His entire body was aching in a way that only happened after things went sideways in life. The pressure in his head was trying to split his skull open and he wondered whether or not it was worth shoving his eyelids open. He was pretty sure it wasn't. Pain had a way of making a person hyperaware of their body's present condition and waking up was no exception to that rule. He allowed his thoughts to wander and eventually licked his lips as thirst crept through his throat.

"Steve?" Chin's voice cut through the haze and he couldn't deny where he was anymore. If the smell of antiseptic hadn't been enough of a clue, the presence of his friend was. He wondered for a moment why he was hearing only the older cop. _Where's Danny?_ Never once in the all the time that he'd known the Jersey cop had he left Steve alone in a hospital…never.

Suddenly he was struggling to get up, his body reacting instinctively to the absent personality in the room before his mind had completely caught up.

"Steve! Calm down. You're safe." Chin said as he placed a gentle palm on Steve's chest, forcing him back down.

The SEAL sucked in a breath as his muscles contracted with a fiery pain that was spreading outward from the soft pressure on his chest. "Ouch…" He managed to croak out. His eyelids popping open and he immediately squeezed them shut again as the light pierced his pupils and pain lanced through his head like shattered glass. "Where's Danny?"

Steve heard Chin suck in a breath. "You don't remember?" The other man asked quietly.

"I'm guessing I'm missing something, Chin." He mumbled. He forced his eyelids open again. "Is it Danny? Is he hurt?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Steve reached up and rubbed his hand down his face, the IV line dragged over his chest and he groaned when it pulled painfully on the needle in his hand. "Uh…the Benichi case. The woman that convinced a student to take out her husband."

"Steve…that was two weeks ago. You don't remember anything else?" Chin's eyes were concerned, but he was definitely holding something back.

He could hear the surprise in his friend's voice, which meant that Steve was missing time. He was no stranger to concussions; he'd had enough of them in his life to know that he would get that time back eventually. But he also knew that he must be missing something very important…and _where the hell was Danny?_

"Chin? Where is Danny?" He concentrated on making the request very clear and one that his friend couldn't talk his way out of.

"He's still in surgery."

Steve's eyes shifted several times as he tried to understand that. "How bad?"

"Bad." The one word answer wasn't what Steve wanted to hear. If Danny had been able he would have been sitting by Steve's bed when he woke up. Which meant, that he hadn't been able…

Steve forced his aching body higher in the bed. "What the hell happened?"

Chin sighed and sank into the chair next to his boss's hospital bed. "We don't know exactly. Danny was taken three days ago and you were taken forty-eight hours after that. I found you swimming in the ocean, Steve. I have no idea how you got there—"

"—Danny?" He was going to keep circling back to that until Chin answered his questions.

"He was in a lava tube."

Snippets of memories were tickling the edges of Steve's conscious mind, but they didn't make sense. He was in that tube with Danny…and then he was in the ocean. _Why would I leave Danny?_ He wondered silently.

"He was kidnapped?" Steve reasoned after a moment. It wasn't unusual for Five-0 to make enemies. They had managed to cut the crime rate in Oahu by close to fifty percent over the last four years. _He'd_ been taken by Wo-Fat, Kono had been taken, even Chin himself had had been kidnapped and dropped in the middle Halawa prison. _Danny_ had been forced to cooperate with bad guys, but he'd never been _taken_ by any. So the list of people that could have a grudge against the blonde cop was massive and thinking about it hurt Steve's head.

"What about his injuries?" Steve's skull was throbbing painfully, but he didn't want to be drugged, so he kept silent about the pain.

Kono's voice interrupted the pair and Chin stood up clearing a place for her to sit down. Adam leaned against the door of Steve's room. "Broken arm, four broken ribs, two cracked, stabbed in the side and that's severely infected, they're trying to remove the necrotic tissue, and the compressed discs in his back are worse." She took a breath and Steve knew that she wasn't saying something.

"What else, Kono?" Every injury that she listed off was like being branded with guilt, that happened whenever any of his team was injured. Steve was trying to wrap his head around the laundry list of life threatening problems his friend was currently fighting. Any one of those would have been bad enough, but combined they were a recipe for disaster.

She swallowed and looked over at Adam, he stepped inside and laid supportive hands on her shoulders. "He has a grade three concussion and it's being compounded by pneumonia."

"How did he get taken?" Steve wasn't a hundred percent that he wanted to know this, because he had a sinking feeling that somehow this was his fault. He knew that he'd been unfairly punishing Danny over the last several weeks. But he just couldn't seem to get on top of his own anger and guilt. Steve knew from past experience that it took him longer than the average person to move on from something. And having the images of Danny and that crash vividly painted inside his head hadn't made that any easier.

H50 H50

 _Danny was standing in the deserted airport. His hands hanging limply at his sides, his phone held loosely. The message from Rachel was very clear. She'd waited for him as long as she could and he'd chosen Steve and Five-0 over her and Grace. And now she was gone. He pulled his lower lip between his teeth and swallowed the lump that was preventing him from breathing normally._

 _For the first time in his life, Daniel Williams didn't know what to do. His heart was stuttering in his chest and it felt as though the room was closing in on him. 'Panic attack'…he knew the signs. Every time he thought about small spaces it was the same. He had to get out of there, right now. He scrambled out of the waiting area and hustled to the Camaro, his breaths coming in short ineffectual pants. He leaned against the silver car and just tried to breathe._

 _Eventually, he slid behind the wheel just as his body failed him and he had to leaned out the side again…and threw up the meager contents of his stomach. He'd lost his family. Danny didn't regret helping Steve that night. Steve had been falsely accused of killing the Governor. There was no doubt in Danny's mind that he'd made the right call…but it was heart-wrenching to know that he'd sacrificed his one chance to make his own small family whole again._

 _And if that hadn't been enough. 'Which it most certainly had been.' Danny hadn't been able to save Steve. His friend was in prison, Five-0 had been disbanded, Kono was suspended pending investigation, and Chin? He'd gone running back to HPD. Now there was only Danny looking out for their 'Ohana' and he'd lost his own family in the process. The realizations were painful and all he wanted to do was crawl inside a bottle of Scotch and stay there for a month._

 _He wiped the spit from his mouth and pulled the door shut. The drive home had been awful. Okay, well no…the really awful part had happened when he walked in the door and saw a pair of Grace's flip flops sitting innocently by the couch. All the emotions of the past twenty-two hours crashed down on him and Danny was helpless to stop it. He sank down onto the floor of his apartment and cried. He cried for all the things that 'might' have been and all the things he'd lost. Emotions welled up from the black pit he usually kept them hidden in and broke down his last reserves of strength._

 _Two days later…_

 _He was driving toward his spot. The place that overlooked the ocean and always helped him think. Because Danny needed to think right now. He needed to decide how to best help Steve. It was late and his friend had been in prison for two days for a murder he didn't commit. The moon was full tonight, casting its gentle white light down on the road as Danny drove. The air wafting through the open windows of the Camaro smelled like the flowers that bloomed year round, mixed with the earthy scents of grass._

 _Danny's phone rang; he ignored it after glancing down and seeing that it was Rachel. He pinched at the bridge of his nose in resignation as the phone stopped ringing. He reached down and shifted into fifth gear when the road opened up. The familiar rumble of his car didn't calm him like it normally did. Instead it reminded him that Steve wasn't in the car too._

 _He hadn't even made it a mile before his phone started ringing again…Rachel. "Shit." Danny sighed and swiped the 'answer' button. "Didn't you say everything in the message?" He asked immediately._

" _Daniel." She admonished and he groaned at her ability to make him feel like he was the bad guy in all of this. His heart ached at the way her voice slipped in and wrapped itself around his soul. At some point he was going to have to accept that he and Rachel were over…but he wasn't ready to deal with all that yet._

' _And here we go with the 'Daniel's' he thought bitterly as he waited for her to continue._

" _Grace and I will be back in two weeks." She said quietly._

 _That surprised the Jersey cop. He swallowed nervously. Had she changed her mind about them? Danny wasn't sure that he could keep allowing Rachel inside his heart. Every time it got more difficult to recover when she ripped it out. He was afraid that if it happened again, he wouldn't…recover. "Why?" There was so much more that he wanted to say to her, but he knew that it needed to be said in person._

 _There was a pause and he got a sudden sense of foreboding. "What's going on, Rachel?"_

 _He rounded a corner and sighed as he pulled off into a space near the road. His blue gaze shifted to the moonlight shining off the surface of the ocean. Once she started speaking he was glad he'd stopped. Because she dropped one hell of a bomb on him and he likely would have crashed his car trying to absorb it._

" _I'm moving back in with Stan. We're going to try and make it work."_

 _Danny swallowed and took that in. Why was she telling him all this. She'd already made it clear that they were over, so what was the point of the conversation. If she'd wanted to hurt him, she'd already accomplished that in a way he would never fully recover from. "I don't need to know that. Why…why are you telling me all this, Rachel. We're not married and you made it abundantly clear that you wanted nothing from me beyond my kids…so…I don't understand what's happening right now." And the sad part was, he really 'didn't know what she was getting at._

" _Kid." She corrected quietly._

" _What?" He hadn't really been listening, but he couldn't have heard that correctly. Something in his stomach twisted painfully and he knew that he was about to have his world blown apart…again._

"Kid...t _he baby…I'm further along than I thought." She pulled in a ragged breath. "You're not the father, Daniel."_

 _Everything she'd done to date had nothing on that one statement. Rachel had managed to out do herself with this one. "It's Stan's?" He asked quietly. "That baby…Stan is the father?" Every syllable he uttered was like trying to cut his own heart out with a spoon and he closed his eyes, dropping his head onto his chest. He hadn't known she'd been sleeping with both of them at the same time._

" _Yes. We're going to try and make it work…for the sake of the baby." She said softly._

 _Danny swallowed the lump of emotion and leaned back against the seat._

" _I'm sorry, Daniel." She whispered before the line went dead._

 _Danny slowly pulled the phone from his ear and let it drop onto the seat next to him. He pressed the palms of his hands into his aching eyes and allowed the disappointment and the anger wash through him._

 _H50 H50_

 _Steve was staring at the roof of his cement cell. His arms thrown behind his head and his legs crossed at the ankles. He was thinking about the ocean and the fact that it had been three days since he'd last been swimming. The feeling of freedom that he got from slicing through the water in long fluid strokes was missing from his life and he hated it. He missed having beers on the lanai with Danny. He missed his own bed. He missed Danny._

 _It was strange. Steve had been gone from Hawaii for close to twenty years and he'd only been back for one, but he'd already fallen into comfortable habits…and he missed them._

" _McGarrett! You got a visitor." A guard's voice pulled him from his musings._

 _He knew it would be Danny. His partner was the only one that had been to visit him since he'd been arrested. He understood…he really did. But the fact that Danny was the one that had lost his 'everything' and he was the one that was trying like hell to get Steve through this? It meant everything to the SEAL. Kono couldn't visit. Her suspension prevented that and Chin? Steve still wasn't sure what was happening with the older cop._

 _The moment he saw Danny, Steve knew there was something wrong. The man's blue eyes were haunted and dull. And he was wearing a cheap t-shirt. Which for Danny was like parading a broken heart around on his sleeve. Something had happened with Rachel. Steve pressed his lips together and sank down, grabbing the phone off the wall._

 _Danny tilted his head at the look on his friend's face, he knew. Somehow his super-ninja-SEAL partner knew._

" _What happened, Danny?"_

 _Danny sighed. He hadn't slept since getting the phone call the previous night and he was tired and heartsick. And the only person he could talk to was wearing bright orange and staring at him through a plexi-glass window. "How's Rachel? She and Grace okay? What about the baby?" Steve pressed._

 _Danny wanted to explain to Steve so badly his chest was aching. But he couldn't lay this guilt at this man's feet. Not right now. Because Steve would think 'he' was responsible and he wasn't. This was entirely Danny's fault. It was the culmination of so many choices. "She's uh…Rachel's good. How're you? You good?"_

 _Steve knew that he wasn't going to get the man to talk if he didn't want to, but damn if he wasn't willing to try. "Danny…come on man. You look like shit."_

" _Why thank you, Steven. I appreciate the anti-compliment. How about, 'Hey Danny. Thanks for coming to visit me while I rot in this hellhole?'" He sighed and scrubbed a hand through his blonde hair when Steve continued to stare at him in silence. "You don't look all that great either, babe." Danny finished lamely._

 _Steve's eyebrows cut down in concern. "I know, but I'm in prison. What's your excuse?"_

 _Danny licked his lips and looked away from Steve for a moment before muttering. "Been a rough couple of days."_

" _Yeah, buddy. I know." Steve leaned forward. "Seriously, Danny…what's going on with you?"_

 _After taking a deep breath, Danny leaned back in the chair. "Uh…me and Rachel…it's not going to happen." He finally admitted._

 _Steve's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in surprise. Last he'd heard things were going really well for the detective and his ex-wife. They were even expecting another baby. "Why not?" He had a sinking feeling that he knew 'exactly' why Danny wasn't getting his second chance._

" _She wants to stay in Jersey." Danny said in a stilted voice. He wasn't ready to tell Steve that Rachel was actually coming back and that she was carrying Stan's child. He shuddered internally at the thought._

 _Danny's hands were woefully still and Steve watched his friend suffer without the ability to do anything about it. "Does that mean you're going back too?" He didn't want to ask the question. But it would certainly explain Danny's haggard look._

 _Danny shook his head. "No. I'm not going back to New Jersey. My place is here."_

 _H50 H50_

It took another four hours before Danny was wheeled into ICU. His lungs were functioning only because of the ventilator that was breathing for him. Steve had fought like hell to be aloud to see his partner. His memory was still fractured, but he knew that neither of them should be alive.

Chin wheeled him into the ICU after arguing vehemently with the desk nurse. Kono and Adam had stayed in Steve's room, because they couldn't have that many people in Danny's room.

Danny looked small. Steve knew that his partner was short, by comparison to himself, but seeing him hooked up to so many machines that they dwarfed the snarky blonde, was terrifying. Danny's face was discolored with bruising, a bandage covering his left cheekbone. His hands were silent and still where they rested near his sides. His right arm was back in a cast.

The ventilator was making a slight 'whoosh, whoosh, whoosh' as it breathed for the other man. The faint beeping of the heart rate monitor told Steve that Danny was alive, but that was the only indicator. There were no other movements from his partner.

"What are his chances?" Steve finally murmured.

Chin inhaled deeply and sat in the tiny chair near the window. He couldn't tell Steve that Danny's chances of coming out of this whole were less than twenty percent. That was something that the other man didn't need to know…not yet. "He's strong, Steve. He'll make it."

Steve didn't turn away from the bed. "You didn't answer my question, Chin." He resolved quietly.

"The doctor's won't know for certain until he wakes up."

Now the SEAL turned toward his older friend. "And when will that be?"

Chin shook his head. "They don't know."

Steve reached out and carefully picked up Danny's left hand. It was colder than it should be. "Can I have a minute with him, Chin?" He asked.

The other man nodded and stepped to the door. "I'll be right outside if you need anything."

"Thanks." Steve muttered. His eyes dropping back to Danny. Once Chin was out of the room Steve leaned forward in his wheelchair ignoring the pains of his body. "Danny…I know you can hear me, buddy. So I need you to do something for me." Steve pulled in a breath. "I need you to fight. Grace needs you to fight." At the sound his Grace's name Danny's heart rate picked up slightly and then settle back into the same rhythm. "We're not done cleaning up this island yet, pal. You and me, we got unfinished business." He paused as he tried to figure out what he wanted to tell the unconsciousness man. "And I can't do this without you, Danny. I can't. You blew into my life and you changed it in ways I didn't know I needed. And I can't go back." He laid leaned further forward and laid his head on the white linen of the hospital bed, near Danny's shoulder. "Please, Danno…just fight. Like you've fought everything else in your life…fight this."

H50 H50

Kono was leaning against Adam as he dozed. Steve and Chin would be back soon and she couldn't bring herself to leave. An Asian doctor stepped into the room. He was tall in an expensive suit, which Kono found odd. Most doctors in this place wore scrubs because the nature of the job. To many good clothes could get ruined in the pursuit of medical care.

The man looked at her and she could see that she'd surprised him, but not as much as the empty bed had. "Where's the patient?" He asked. The slight Russian accent caught her off guard and she sat up straighter, Adam's eyes opened, but he stayed silent.

"Steve went to visit a friend." Kono answered.

The man frowned. "He's not supposed to be out of bed yet." The words were right, but the sentiment was all wrong and it set off every warning bell that Kono had developed as a cop over the last four years.

"Uh, yeah…his attending said it was fine. Doctor…" She waited for him to fill in the last name since he wasn't wearing a nametag.

"Doctor's fine." The man said quickly. "I'll just stop by later then." He turned and left the room.

Kono looked over at Adam, he was wearing the same confused expression she was. "That was weird." He observed.

"Yeah, it was." She shook her head. "Something about that guy is off."

Chin and Steve appeared at that moment and Kono jerked her head to the door as soon Chin helped Steve settle back in the bed. He nodded and followed her to just outside Steve's room. "What's up, cuz?"

"We need to put HPD outside Steve and Danny's rooms. No one gets in to see them without our authorization." She was keeping her voice low in case the man was still creeping about somewhere.

"Why? What happened?" Chin wasn't doubting his cousin's instincts, but he wanted all the facts. As Kono explained about the 'doctor' he could feel his anger rising slowly and surely. "And you think this might one of the guys involved with Danny's kidnapping?"

Kono nodded. "Get a sketch artist down here and I'll give him a description, but yeah…I think this might be one of the guys."

Chin nodded. "Okay. I'm gonna go sit with Danny and you stay here with Steve until Duke can assign us a couple of patrols."

H50 H50

The man watched as nurses and doctors trickled in and out of the detective's room. He held the syringe tightly in one hand. Eventually he tucked it inside the pocket of the white lab coat. He was pretty sure that Five'0's female officer suspected something, so he needed to act quickly. He started toward Danny's room.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Sorry for the cliffhanger…I know, I hate them too. But the story's coming around toward a conclusion and this seemed like a good place to stop for Chapter Eleven._

 _Thank you to everyone that took a moment to review the previous chapter. You guys are phenomenal._

 **PLEASE REVIEW: And I won't make you wait too long to see what's happening with Danny.**


	12. Welcome Back Danno

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter Twelve** **:**

 _Welcome Back Danno_

 _No one believed him. Danny could tell just by looking at the Navy commanding officer that the man didn't think they had a shot in hell of finding Steve alive. But there was no way that he was dead; Danny couldn't buy into that, not now…not ever._

 _There had been three phone calls, since he'd been in Hawaii, which had scared the Jersey native to his very core. The first had come from Jenna Kaye and had resulted in an impromptu trip to North Korea. The second had been when Steve had called asking where Grace and Rachel were before the whole kidnapping thing. And the last had been the call from Catherine twenty-four hours ago when she had told Danny that the Taliban had taken the Steve._

 _And now as he stood in the command center and prayed to a God that he wasn't sure was even listening, Danny couldn't help the fear that threatened to overwhelm him. He listened as the team moved into position, he couldn't see what was happening, but he could hear it. A part of him still couldn't believe that his friend used to do this on a regular basis. Sure he'd seen Steve in action and truth be told? Danny was regularly impressed by the man's ability to walk away from damn near any situation._

 _But like everything, that luck was bound to run out at some point and the detective was praying that it wasn't this time. No American deserved to die like that, especially one that had served his country so honorably. He'd trusted Catherine and Steve when they'd taken off on this insane mission. Just like he'd trusted Jenna and Steve when they'd gone into North Korea and look how that had ended…with the analyst dead and Steve on the verge of disappearing into Wo-Fat's insane little world. They'd been lucky on that one and Danny wondered how much luck Five-0 could possibly have left._

 _Listening to the gunfire and the radio calls had given the cop a new respect for these men that put their lives on the line every day. And today it was for Steve. Even if he hadn't been a patriot, Danny would've rooted for these men to succeed._

 _He folded his arms and licked his lips as he listened to the team call in their progress. And then they said the magic phrase… "Package is secure."_

 _The sudden release of stress had Danny doubling over and he finally blew out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He could hear the calls from the SEAL team as he waited inside the bunker's command center, but Danny wasn't listening anymore._

 _It had taken two hours, twenty-seven minutes for the team to arrive back at the base with Steve. And Danny had been there; waiting…seeing Steve come off that helicopter on a backboard, beat to hell, and not moving had been awful. But at least he was alive. Danny had quickly stepped forward to get a better look at his partner._

 _The bastards had beat the shit out of Steve, his eye was swollen shut and would need stiches and his torso was littered with nasty bruises and several serious looking contusions. So broken, or at the very least, cracked ribs were a foregone conclusion. It was difficult seeing his 'unbreakable' partner like that._

 _H50 H50_

 _Danny carried a six-pack of long boards and a pizza…with fricken pineapple. Which was bullshit in his opinion, but he knew that it was Steve's favorite…so Danny had made the sacrifice and ordered it. But only on half the pizza, he couldn't quite bring himself to cover an entire pie in the nasty island fruit._

 _He didn't bother knocking. He never did anymore. Danny pushed the front door open and slipped inside McGarrett's home. He'd assumed that the still recovering SEAL would be hanging out in front of the television. He should've known better. Danny actually watched the television in Steve's house more often than the SEAL did._

" _Steve?" He called out. Danny glanced around looking for signs of his friend._

 _There was a brief moment of silence before he heard Steve's voice. "Out back, Danny."_

 _Okay, so that was the second place he should've looked, he shook his head. Danny stepped through the kitchen and onto the lanai. Steve was seated in a chair in the darkness. His cell phone was held loosely in his hands. But when he looked up, Danny's heart clenched. Something had happened since he'd dropped the man off and gone for food. Steve was broken in a way he hadn't been before. There were very few things that could put a look like that on Steve's face._

" _Is Catherine okay?" Danny sank down into the other chair. He set the pizza down and grabbed a beer._

 _Steve's face crumbled and he looked away from the concern in Danny's eyes. "She's not coming back."_

 _The cop's eyebrow's shot up and he pulled in a long breath before sitting in the other chair. It was a clear night and the waves were rolling in a gentle crashing rhythm, while the moonlight danced across the black expanse of water. A barely perceptible breeze picked at Danny's hair. He handed one of the beers to Steve before he said anything._

 _Steve might appear to be a Neanderthal with no regard for human emotions, or an ability to express them like a normal person. But the truth was? Steve was the opposite. He felt things so deeply and with such a fierce devotion that it could freeze him and Danny understood that. He pulled his lower lip between his teeth and leaned back in the chair._

" _You okay?" He knew the answer to that question. Steve wasn't okay. He loved Catherine and Danny knew that enough people had abandoned Steve in his life, that he wasn't expecting it from her._

 _Steve lifted destroyed eyes to Danny and shook his head. "No."_

 _Danny pulled in a deep breath. He'd been where Steve was and he knew that eventually it would hurt less…but it would never go away, not completely. "Yeah…" He would give anything to save Steve from this, but he couldn't. "I'm sorry, babe." And he was. Danny knew exactly where Steve was at. He'd been there. He knew what it felt like to believe in one thing, only to have it ripped away from him by a choice that wasn't his. And he wouldn't wish that kind of pain on his worst enemy, let alone his best friend and brother._

 _H50 H50_

The doctor that stepped into Danny's room barely spared a glance at Chin before moving to look at Danny's vitals.

The cop looked up and tilted his head to the side. "How's he doing, doc?"

After glancing at the monitor, the man turned toward Chin, a gun leveled square in the center of his chest. "He was going to make it." He answered matter of factly.

Chin's hands came up slowly. His gun was sitting idly on his hip. Chin glanced over at the detective. Danny was still unconscious…and so very helpless. Inside, Chin was raging, they'd been through enough over the last several weeks. Danny deserved a break.

The man tipped the nose of his pistol toward the sidearm. "Set it on the floor and kick it over."

"You're not gonna get away with this." Chin said. His anger was rolling just beneath the surface of his calm veneer. The man's lips pulled up into a harsh smile.

"People die all the time." His gaze flickered around the room, finally landing back on Chin and Danny. "It is a hospital after all. And he's not that healthy as it is." He stepped closer to Danny and Chin lunged to his feet. The pistol cocked and Chin ground his teeth together in frustration as he was again forced to stand down.

"He doesn't deserve this." He managed.

The man smiled. "He deserves worse than this." He held up the syringe and needle. "Unfortunately they frown on torturing the patients." He reached down and grabbed onto Danny's broken arm, picking it up and slamming it against the railing of the bed. Danny's heart rate monitor whined as his body reacted to the pain. He plunged the needle into Danny's arm…the bastard held his gun level on the older man as he started to depressed the dark liquid.

"What the hell are you doing? Leave him alone."

"it's just a little something for the pain. Plus I hear it clears clogged drains in minutes."

Draino? Chin couldn't believe that the asshole was poisoning Danny with common drain cleaner.

Chin was already rushing forward when the gun went off. A loud bang ripped through the air. He skidded to a halt and stared down at the brand new hole in his leg. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that he should be feeling the fiery wash of pain, but his rage over ruled that and he sprang forward despite the bullet hole. Before the man could pull the rigger again, he tackled the guy, throwing him to the floor.

A fist crashed into his Chin's jaw and snapped his head to the side. "You son of a bitch!"

Chin ignored the man's cries of anger as he wrapped his arms around the torso of the other man. A nurse ran into the room and immediately scurried back out when Chin yelled at her. He managed to punch his attacker in the gut before another volley of strikes forced him onto his back. Chin's leg was bleeding and he knew that he didn't have much time before his body gave out on him.

"Danny?" Steve's voice broke up the fight for a moment, before his gaze landed on the blood on the floor. He rushed into the room and took in the scene. A large syringe was sticking out of Danny's thigh and his arm was now lying at an odd angle. One that suggested it was broken just above where the cast stopped. His blue-green gaze flashed back up and he didn't even think about his reaction. Steve ignored the frantic protests of his body as he jumped forward, throwing himself in front of Chin and grabbing the man's legs. He pulled as hard as he could, sliding the attacker under him and wrapping his fingers around the shocked man's throat.

There was nothing sane in Steve's eyes. Chin watched in horror and relief as his friend literally strangled the attacker. It wasn't until several HPD officers barreled into the room and hauled the SEAL off the man that sanity seemed to return. Steve blinked several times before lunging toward Danny's bed. He yanked the needle out and threw it across the room, before carefully grasping Danny's face and turning it toward him.

"Danny?" He asked quietly.

Several medical personnel hurried into the room as HPD cuffed the unconscious attacker in the expensive suit. They immediately went to Chin and got to work trying to stop the bleeding. That brought Steve's attention back to his friend. "Chin? You okay?" He asked.

The older man simply nodded as he was helped to his feet and set in a wheelchair. "I have a bullet in my leg, but yeah…I'll live." His brown eyes shifted to Danny. "He okay?"

"I don't know." Steve whispered.

"Keep me informed." Chin said as he looked down at Danny and then reluctantly allowed the nurse to wheel him from the room.

Steve turned back toward their Jersey detective and then swallowed as a wave of dizziness overtook him. He reached forward and steadied himself against the bed. The gentle touch of flesh had him forcing his eyelids open. Steve was rewarded with two steely blue eyes staring back. They widened in fear as Danny started to panic, the tube down his throat both scaring him and sending his claustrophobia into overdrive. He started to choke as pain and confusion rampaged around inside his head.

"Danny! Calm down, Danny." Steve ignored his own pain in an effort to help his friend. He carefully grasped Danny's left hand and pulled it against his chest. "You're safe, Danny." He stared down into the slowly closing eyes of the cop. "We made it, buddy."

The smaller man's eyelids dropped closed and he slipped back into sleep. With the adrenaline of the situation seeping out of him, Steve sank into the chair next to the bed. His vision was blurry and his head was pounding in slicing swaths of pain. Kono ran into the room and gasped at the blood on the floor.

She hurried over to Steve and sank down in front of him, headless of the blood that was staining her jeans. "Are you okay?" She could tell by the beeping of Danny's heart rate monitor that he was still with them. But Steve looked like death warmed over and Kono was worried about her friend and boss.

Steve took a shallow breath and looked over at her. "He woke up." It was a whisper, but it was the first hopeful thing he'd uttered since this whole debacle had started weeks ago.

H50 H50

Danny felt the unrelenting pull of consciousness. His body ached in ways that told him it was going to be a painful return. He swallowed and the scratchy fire in his throat made him want to avoid doing _that_ again for a very long time. There was a gentle floating sensation inside his head that was the direct result of pain medication. Which meant that things had gone very badly for him recently.

 _Did I get shot? Damn…did Steve get me shot again?_ He wondered as he forced his eyelids open. _He better freaking apologize._

The light pierced his eyes and he quickly slammed them closed. There was an uncomfortable tightness in his right eye that he knew only came from profuse swelling and stitches. _So I got more than shot._ The lack of memory was starting to concern Danny as he tried to piece together how he'd wound up… _where the hell am I._ Against his better judgment he forced his eyelids apart again.

 _Ah…hospital._ He blinked once and then tilted his head to the right and it hurt. But there next to his bed was Steve. He looked terrible, like he hadn't slept in days. That worried Danny. He started to move his right arm and then hissed in pain. His arm was in a cast up to his shoulder. "Steve." He croaked out.

He winced when Steve sat up too quickly and jarred his bed. "Danny?"

"Hey, babe."

Just hearing Danny's raspy voice pulled a sad smile from Steve. "Welcome back, Danno."

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _One more chapter and maybe an epilogue. We'll get some closure and learn who the man was that attacked Danny and Steve. And there will be a reunion between our favorite Five-0 team members._

 _Thank you to everyone that read and reviewed the last chapter, you guys are awesome!_

 **PLEASE REVIEW: I promise, it'll only take a moment and I appreciate them so much.**


	13. Lost Memories

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Chapter Thirteen** **:**

 _Lost Memories_

Danny stared at the stark white ceiling of his hospital room. The light was bouncing around as the tree outside his window blew in the subtle Hawaiian winds. He'd lived on the Islands for more than four years, but he rarely, if ever, made it to the Big Island. In the back of his head he'd always thought he'd bring Grace over and take her on one of the horseback riding trips that the ranches offered. A painful wash of guilt rolled through him as he thought of his daughter. She'd almost lost him, or so he'd been told.

He had a constant headache these days. No matter what they did, they couldn't seem to make the piercing aches inside his skull go away. Which sucked if he did say so himself, and he did. The memories of what had happened to him were still hazy. Last clear thing he could recall, he'd gone to the doctor for a checkup on his back. And then there was…nothing until two days ago.

A nurse popped her head into the room. She was kinda pretty in that 'I used to be a cheerleader' sort of way. "Time to change those bandages, detective."

He knew that she had been looking for visitors when she entered. Danny had had a constant stream of visitors over the last two days.

Steve had informed Danny that he'd been released from the hospital that morning, but he wasn't going to leave the Island until Danny could go with him. He'd appreciated the support, but it seemed silly that they should both be stuck in a hospital. He'd tried to explain that to his stubborn partner. But Steve wouldn't even consider leaving and Danny had found that he was more confused than anything by that response. The 'missing time' in his head was making him crazy. _What had happened while he'd been gone?_

The nurse pulled a small cart in with her interrupting his thoughts. Danny was starting to think of her cart as the ' _torture_ ' cart. Now, his higher self knew that that wasn't the case. But his base self was pretty sure that they taught nurses how to torture patients in those _nursing_ programs. Okay, so that wasn't really fair and he knew it. But damn did it hurt every time she started pulling on his slowly healing wounds.

"Where's your entourage?" She busied herself gently pulling the weepy bandages from the still healing knife wound on his side. The fever was now a low grade one, but not gone completely. She frowned when she saw the slightly green tint.

Danny didn't miss the change in her facial features. "Everything okay down there?" He winced as she pulled the sticky gauze clear. His body hurt all the time. They'd cut the pain meds back, at his request, and that was taking a toll on him. Plus, any time tape was applied to an area where there was _body hair_ it wasn't exactly comfortable to have it peeled off.

In an effort to be transparent with Danny, she answered calmly. "There's some discharge here that concerns me."

"Great, so I'm not outta the woods yet?" Danny's voice was soft, but tinged with worry. He'd hope he could get himself transferred back to Oahu in the next day or so. But if there was still an infection running through his body, that wasn't likely to happen.

He didn't notice Steve stepping up to the doorway, two cups of coffee in his hands. "It's still infected?" The SEAL didn't bother to hide the fact that he'd overheard the nurse's assessment. His face was a blank mask, no emotions shining through to give away how he felt about this little setback.

Danny's blue eyes flickered over to his friend and he groaned internally. He wouldn't have told Steve about this, given the chance. She looked over at the taller man and nodded. "I'm afraid so. I'm going to get the doctor and see about increasing the antibiotics." She hurried from the room after covering the wound on Danny's side with a fresh bandage.

"How's Chin?" Danny asked, his gaze pinning Steve with unanswered questions.

"He's doing okay. The bullet was a through and through. Missed all the vital nerves and the femoral artery. He's gonna need some physical therapy, but he'll be back at it in no time." Steve didn't mention the fact that Chin had had a bit of his own fight with a fever that first day. "He wants come visit, but the doctors don't think that's a great idea right now."

"How's Kono handling all this?" Danny was worried about his teammates. They'd risked a lot to come find him and Steve. At least that was the story the cop had been told. Something about a freak hurricane and a lava tube on the main Island. He still didn't fully understand what happened.

Steve set the cup of coffee on the table next to Danny in an effort to remove the pensive expression on his friend's face. "Thought you could use this." He sank into the chair near the bed and ground his teeth together as he looked at Danny. He looked too pale and he'd lost a significant amount of weight...and Danny hadn't had any pounds to lose to begin with.

The cop looked at the coffee. He appreciated the thought, but his stomach rolled in nausea and Danny didn't bother picking up the cup. He'd had a difficult time keeping anything but clear liquids down and throwing up all over his partner wasn't on his list of things to do today. "Thanks." He laughed nervously. "Looks like I'm gonna be here a bit longer than I anticipated."

Steve's veneer broke, just for a second, and he looked genuinely worried before covering up the unwanted emotion. "Looks like."

Danny bit at his lower lip as a wave of pain washed through him and his vision blurred slightly before clearing again.

"Hey, hey…Danny, you okay?" Steve watched the pained expression on his friend's face and he took a breath as he waited for Danny to open his eyes again.

"Yeah, yeah…I'm fucking fantastic." He ground out through clenched teeth. After a moment he forced his eyelids apart and looked over at Steve. He could see the concern winding its way through Steve's blue-green gaze as he watched Danny suffer. "I'll be okay, Steven."

"Anything come back yet?" He and Danny had talked in the lava tube and he'd said everything he needed to say then…and Steve wasn't sure he could say it all again.

"No. Nothing." Danny looked over and tried to smile. It turned into a grimace when the action pulled on his stiches. "Am I missing something important?"

Steve wanted to answer. But he didn't know how to answer that question. Because he'd be telling Danny how he had felt about the apology, rather than letting the Jersey man decide for himself. He knew that that might be the easier way to bury all this crap that had happened over the last two and half months, but it wasn't how he wanted this to happen.

The doctor interrupted before they could continue the conversation and Danny was pulled from the room to debride the wound again. Steve was drawn into his own thoughts. He'd only had explain to 'what' had happened to his partner once before and it had been horrifying. Danny still didn't have those memories and he probably never would. Not that Steve was hoping they'd come back or anything. Because then Danny would know that the argument in the car wasn't the first time Steve had deliberately pushed Danny's buttons to get him to do something the cop didn't want to do.

And then something truly awful had resulted, leaving Danny fighting for his life.

H50 H50

" _Come on, Danny. It'll be fun." Steve whined as Danny glared at him from the beach. Watching his over zealous military partner. Who was currently waist deep in the Pacific and the waves were rolling in huge cascades of water that were breathtaking. They spun and careened with one another as the tides shifted. It was prime surfing weather and Steve had decided that they needed some team building. Chin and Kono were already out on the waves enjoying the day off._

 _Steve was trying to get Danny off said beach and into the deeper water. After their foray in the ocean a month ago, on the horrific fishing trip as Steve was now calling it, the SEAL understood why Danny was hesitant. It had been one of the few times that his partner had opened up. Telling Steve about Billy had been incredibly painful for Danny, but at least now he got it. The fear that seemed to paralyze the detective whenever anything involved the ocean now made sense. They'd all come out to catch some waves and some afternoon sun. And since Danny had been surfing with Kono for the last three years he should have been fine in the more technical waters of North Shore. Granted these were bigger waves than the cop usually played on, but still._

 _Steve had to get Danny off the 'bunny hill' at some point. He smiled inwardly at his own comparison of skiing with surfing. Because other than the fact that they both involved some form of water they were incredibly different. Different balance points. Different skill sets._

" _What are you smiling at?" Danny called the accusation from the sandy beach. "I fail to see how placing myself at the mercy of the Pacific Ocean and hoping that I don't die, while surfing something that is way too advanced for my current skill level will be fun." Danny's hands cut through the air as he explained his current position on the matter. It was a patented 'Danny rant' and the taller man shook his head in frustration._

 _Steve sighed. His gaze shifted to where the cousins were catching a truly righteous wave and shook his head again. He was going to have to go deep on this one. "Get on the board and get your ass in the water or I'm gonna tell Grace you chickened out."_

 _Danny's body went rigid and he glared at Steve. "You wouldn't."_

 _The navy man smiled innocently. "Oh, I would."_

 _Danny pressed his lips together in frustrated anger and finally huffed before reaching down and grabbing the board. "I hate you right now."_

" _I know you do." Steve turned and paddled out. He didn't even look over his shoulder to check on Danny's progress. Because he knew that the New Jersey man would be right on his tail. Using Grace as a threat hadn't been very nice, but Steve happened to know that Danny had promised his daughter he'd give it a try._

 _Forty-two-minutes later…_

" _Just hang on, Danny. We're almost there." Steve's voice barely cut through the red haze of pain. "Chin, you and Kono get to my truck. There's a first aid kit in there and my cell phone."_

 _His eyes dropped to the completely unconscious form of his partner. A huge gash spread across the back of Danny's head. His normally pristine blonde hair was plastered against his skull in both salt water and blood. The smaller man was lying uncharacteristically still on Steve's board as he paddled the last few feet to the shore. His shoulder was covered in abrasions; they disappeared beneath Danny's back where it connected with the surfboard. The road rash type wounds were bleeding heavily and Steve was acutely aware of the fact that they were in a part of the ocean where sharks were a common predator._

 _Chin raced up the side of the sandy trail toward the parking area. Several people were also surfing the break and they quickly paddled in when they saw Danny's wipeout._

" _Dude, is he okay?" A younger kid asked. He was looking wide-eyed at the blood that was now soaking the sand beneath the board that Danny was lying on._

 _Steve ignored the question, because he didn't have an answer and he wasn't going to look close enough to get one. Danny was breathing, which meant his heart was beating. The rest they could figure out at the hospital._

 _Kono dropped down next to him with several clean towels. "Here."_

 _Steve didn't know how long they sat there with the unmoving form of his partner before the sounds of distant sirens allowed him to breathe again._

 _He kept replaying Danny's wipeout over and over in his head. The wave had broken earlier than the cop had anticipated and he'd gotten 'rolled'. Which meant that he'd been bashed against the razor sharp rocks that rested beneath the surface._

 _Steve had heard Danny's cry of surprise and then he'd disappeared beneath the whitecaps of the waves. His board had launched itself into the air and then come down, hitting the cop as he struggled to the surface. The SEAL was pretty sure that's where Danny's head wound had come from. The fins on the surfboard could cause a gash like that if it hit with enough force._

 _They sat in the hospital for three hours before an update about Danny had been given. The doctor had explained that the impact had actually cracked the detective's skull and that it would be few days before they knew if there was permanent damage. That had only added to Steve's guilt. He'd goaded Danny into surfing an area where he wasn't comfortable._

 _What the hell had he been thinking? It was the worst two days Steve had had in a very long time. He'd sat by Danny's bedside and waited for his partner to wake up. He was barely sleeping and he wasn't eating. Kono had brought some malasadas in an attempt to entice Steve into eating something. He knew what she didn't. Even if he ate it…he wouldn't be able to keep it down. It had been the same when he'd returned from the mission where he'd lost Freddie._

 _When Danny had finally graced them with his 'presence' again, he hadn't remembered a single thing for the last five days. It was gone. Evaporated in the damage to his brain. The doctor's had insisted that the memories 'could' come back or they could remain hidden for the rest of Danny's life. There were too many questions where the human brain was involved._

 _His friend had asked what he was doing surfing that part of the waves anyway. He wasn't ready for that. And Steve's guilt had notched up to a whole new level. He couldn't tell Danny that it was 'his' fault that the cop had been injured. So Steve had carried that guilt around and it had eaten away at his relationship with Danny over the last year. And now this had happened…where would it all end?_

 _H50 H50_

Danny knew that Steve was keeping something from him. He just wasn't entirely sure what it was. He was wracking his brain trying to recall what his mind was hiding from him. But the pain that was constantly throwing itself around inside his skull was making it difficult, which meant that _Steve_ needed to fill in those gaps.

He licked his lips and ignored the warmer than comfortable temperature inside the room. Boot steps caught his attention and Danny turned slowly toward the door. Steve stepped inside. "Hey Danny."

It hurt that Danny couldn't remember the last time Steve had called him the 'irritating nickname' of Danno. When he'd met Steve, the damn SEAL had insisted that he be allowed to use Grace's name for her father. There was a niggling memory of something happening the moment he woke up, but it was fuzzy. "Steven."

Steve pulled over the chair and sat on the edge. He looked exhausted and Danny wondered if he'd gotten any sleep at all. "Kono learn anything from our _friend_?"

"Yeah. His name is Alikstar Azuza." Steve took a deep breath. "He's the brother of the man you killed on the ridge. Lets just say he's holding a grudge."

Danny snorted and then winced as pain sliced through his head. "You think?" He sighed. "What about the partner?"

"We haven't been able to find him." Steve spit out the news. It was eating away at him…failure. The bastards had gotten away with nearly crippling and killing Danny. He wanted them behind bars…or dead.

Danny nodded. He shifted slightly in the bed, turning so he was looking directly at Steve. "Is that what's going on with you?"

Steve's gaze flickered up. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Steven. You haven't looked me in the eye since I woke up." He snorted. "Hell, you haven't looked at me since…the ridge."

The guilt climbed up out of the pit of Steve's stomach and he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Danny."

"What? What're you sorry about?"

Steve's tongue flicked out and he drew his lower lip between his teeth. "Oh Danny…everything."

"I don't…I…I need more information, Steve." Danny was well and truly confused. He could see that something was eating away at his partner, but for the life of him he couldn't' figure out what it was.

"I know you do." Steve ran his hand over his stubbled face. "Danny…I owe you an apology." Danny's face clouded and he started to say something, Steve held his hand up. "Just let me get this out. I've said it a few times, but you can't remember and…Danny, you have to remember."He inhaled. "I shouldn't have left you alone. After the ridge…I just couldn't deal with everything and then you couldn't what happened before—"

"—What before? What are you talking about, Steve?"

"Remember your surfing accident?"

Danny nodded. "Uh, yeah. I still have the scar."

"But no memory of how you got it." Danny shook his head. Steve powered forward. He needed to say this. "I forced you into surfing that area. You didn't want to and I…uh…" He shrugged. "Wouldn't let you back down. It was my fault you got hurt then and it's my fault you got hurt now."

Danny reached out with his left hand, the IV pulling slightly. "Steven?" His friend wouldn't look at him and Danny _needed_ Steve to hear this. "Steve." Finally a pair of veiled eyes shifted to him. "I am a big boy. And whether or not you choose to believe this, I can say 'no' to you. Now I don't remember what happened on that beach and even the wreck on the ridge is fuzzy…but what I do know? I _do not_ blame you for any of it."

"But you don't—"

"—Remember? No, I don't. So I guess that means you have a clean slate McGarrett. Don't waste it worrying about something I can't even recall. Maybe I'll get the time back from the lava tube and maybe I won't. I can live with it either way." Danny swallowed and ignored the burn behind his eyes. The look on Steve's face was devastating. "But I can't live with you punishing yourself for it…so please stop."

"Danny—"

"—No. I don't care. Just stop." Danny's voice was chocked as he stared at the emotions crashing around on Steve's face. They were interrupted when Grace came bouncing into the room.

"Danno!" She cried before carefully hugging her father. Steve watched the reunion; he started to get up, intent on leaving father and daughter alone.

"Where do you think you're going, Steven?"

Danny's Jersey accent brought him around and he couldn't help but embrace the little girl as Grace launched herself into his arms. "Thanks for saving my dad, Uncle Steve."

He wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Uh, you're welcome kiddo." He looked over at Danny. "I was going to give you some time with your family."

Grace lifted sincere brown eyes. "Uncle Steve, you _are_ family."

A lump of emotion threatened to cut off the SEAL's air as he stared at the little girl and the man that he considered a brother. Danny forced a smile, even though it pulled painfully on his stiches. "She's right you know. You're my brother, Steve. Every bit as much as Matt."

Steve didn't even know what to say. He felt the same way, but somehow he didn't feel as though he'd earned it…at least not in the last few months. But as he looked at the sincere expression on both Danny's and Grace's face he felt something break loose inside. He swallowed and moved to pull the little girl into a hug. "Love you Gracie."

"Love you too, uncle Steve."

Danny watched the union between his daughter and the man he considered his best friend and brother and he knew that whether or not the memories ever surfaced, he was going to be okay. Steve's gaze shifted over to his slate blue eyes. "Love you too, Danno."

Danny smiled. "Me too, babe."

H50 H50

Five weeks later…

Danny sat in another doctor's office, his legs swinging loosely. They'd figured out that his back was the result of a pinched nerve and with some intense physical therapy he was out of the majority of his pain. His memories had never resurfaced, but Danny wasn't sure that was a bad thing. He was in a good place both with Steve and himself.

He glanced over at the SEAL. Steve had insisted on coming with him, seeing as how this was where he'd disappeared the last time. His partner had insisted that Danny stay with him throughout his recuperation. And it had been nice. This time, Steve had been there for the recovery process. He hadn't left Danny alone in the fight.

"So this is it." Steve said quietly.

"Yup, last appointment and then you're gonna have to deal with me back in the office."

Steve smiled. "It's been too quiet anyway."'

Danny shook his head. "Love you, Steven."

The SEAL grinned. "Love you too."

-THE END-

 **Author's Note:** Let me know if you guys want an Epilogue with the Ohana reunion and I'll add it the end if enough of you are interested.

 _So we got one of the two guys out of the way. And I'm thinking that I might turn this into a trilogy with some time in between as the guys heal and then the return of the man that got away._

 _Thank you to everyone that read and reviewed throughout the story, you guys are so awesome._


	14. Epilogue: Broken Dreams

Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

 **Epilogue:**

 _Broken Dreams_

Danny sat watching Grace as she ran in and out of the rising surf. Her giggles bringing a smile to his face as he sipped on some juice. _No alcohol!_ His incredibly obnoxious partner had informed him when he'd shown up for the barbecue. The weather was nice, warm without being too hot and nice breeze blowing gently through the tops of the tall palm trees. The comforting smell of surf and food mingled to create a warm cocoon of safety and the cop couldn't help but relax against the back of the wooden chair.

Kono was chatting animatedly with Chin and Adam. The older cop was still marching around on a set of crutches, but he was all smiles when he glanced over and caught Danny watching them. He and Chin had talked a lot over the last several weeks and Danny had a better understanding of what had happened when he'd been taken. He'd been understandably upset when he'd learned about the danger his team had placed themselves in to find him. But the older cop had quietly explained that Danny would have done the same thing for any of them. And of course that was true, but that was different...wasn't it?

Chin held up a glass of dark cranberry colored juice and 'saluted' the Jersey cop.

 _So Steve put you on the juice restriction too?_ He thought with amusement. Leave it to McGarrett to decide what his _injured_ team was allowed to drink. _Control freak._ Like they weren't old enough to recognize that they were on pain meds and mixing those alcohol wasn't the best idea.

Danny had been released from the hospital two weeks ago. He was healing up fine, though he still had vast patches of lost memories. The doctors had explained that there was a chance he would never get those back. That had been a particularly frustrating realization for him. Danny knew that _something_ had happened in that lava tube. Something that had healed the broken wall Steve liked to hide behind. But for the life of him, he couldn't recall the precious memory.

His emotionally stunted partner wasn't ignoring him anymore and he wasn't trying to keep Danny in the dark. Steve had simply explained that some things couldn't be expressed twice. _That_ little gem had earned the SEAL a rant. Which had left him smiling and Danny frustrated.

"So how's the head today?" Steve asked as he walked over and sank onto the chair next to Danny. The cop was quick to notice that the SEAL had a beer. Which was completely unfair in Danny's opinion...if anyone would've bothered to _ask_ Danny's opinion. Which they hadn't, bastards.

Danny lifted his eyebrows and considered the answer. The constant headaches were still rattling around inside his noggin, but he was able to function through them now. With time they should dissipate into nothing. He hoped that came sooner as opposed to later, because Danny really didn't like having his head used as a battlefield…on the inside anyway. "It's okay." He lied.

Steve tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "Liar." He stated easily.

The blonde looked over at his partner and pressed his lips together in irritation. "Did you just call me a liar?" When Steve simply nodded, Danny shot him a glare. "I'll have you know, oh clairvoyant one, that I do not lie. I may bend the truth so that it fits my version of it, but I do not in fact, _lie_."

The dark man just shook his head. "You seem a little sensitive about this whole _lying_ thing. Has someone called you a liar before, Daniel?" There was humor just beneath the surface and that actually irritated the detective further.

"In case you've forgotten. I was seriously injured recently and because of that, I am allowed to _alter_ whatever facts I see fit until such time as I can recall the _actual_ facts of the situation at hand." Danny had every intention of going further with his little 'rant'. But the second he saw the smile slip from Steve's face and real distress seep into his stormy eyes, he stopped. "Steve? I was just kidding."

Steve looked down at his hands and then the sand under the chairs they were sitting on. The laughter from the other groups made its way back to them and he found that he couldn't smile. Because how could Danny ever think that he would forget what had happened over the last three months? Seeing his best friend and partner nearly die, twice…it was more than enough to feed his nightmares for decades to come. And to be perfectly honest, Steve hadn't needed any more fuel for those particular fires. They were already stocked high with the betrayals and the deaths of those he loved. He didn't think that he would have survived adding Danny to that list.

Danny watched the emotions crash across Steve's face as he swallowed and forced the vivid memories into the chasms of his battered mind. He reached out, his white cast now adorned with _Steve's signature_ , catching the slowly waning light of the Hawaiian sun.

"Hey! The steaks are almost ready." Chin called out.

The detective glanced up and held his hand up asking for a moment. Chin frowned but nodded in understanding.

"Steven, I need you to look at me." Danny asked as his cast touched Steve's unsteady hands. When the blue-green gaze lifted to meet Danny's steely blue, it was almost more than the Jersey man could handle. There laid out in front of him were the flayed remains of Steve's soul. "I need you to listen to me, Steve. Really listen."

Steve nodded, but remained silent.

Danny licked his lips and took a breath, ignoring the slight twinge of pain in his side as he shifted forward. "I do not blame you. I have nothing but gratitude for your relentless and sometimes sadistic attention to a case, without which I probably wouldn't be here right now." Danny's eyes flickered over to Grace and her friend, Hannah, playing happily in the shallow waters of the Ocean.

"I…it just never should've gotten that bad." Steve whispered.

"And that is every bit as much my fault as it is yours. We are a great team, but that means that we literally _almost live_ in one another's back pockets. And we are going to annoy each other. But that doesn't mean that I don't trust you or that I would want any other person as my partner. You're it babe. The best partner I've ever had…and the best friend."

Steve started to say something, but Danny interrupted. "Not done yet, Steven. I have no doubt that we will piss each other off in the future and that we will fight and argue. But we will also have barbecues, parties, and eventually maybe another wedding or two. The point is, we will do all of this together as friends, as partners, and as brothers."

Tears burned in the corners of Steve's eyes as he listened to what Danny was saying. Somewhere in his heart he had been terrified that the detective had lost faith in his ability to be a good partner. But listening to Danny now, he knew that they were going to be okay. Danny smiled and started to stand up, Steve's words pulled him back.

"You know I feel the same, right Danno?" Steve smiled. For the first time in months he actually smiled and it wasn't forced…it was genuine.

Danny titled his head to the side and raised an eyebrow in response. "I just poured my manly heart out all over this beach and you're stealing it? Seriously? My awesome bromance moment has been reduced to something that is worthy of plagiarism?"

Steve actually scoffed at that. "Well, you said it so well, I didn't want to mess with perfection."

The blonde glared at him. But there was no heat behind the action and there was a considerable amount of humor. "I'm going to remind you that you said that in the future."

"Of that I have no doubt." Steve shot back good-naturedly.

Grace interrupted them as she sprinted to Danny's side. "Come on, Danno. The food is ready and I'm starving."

"Okay, monkey. Uncle Steve and I will be there in just a minute." The child grinned a toothy grin and hugged him.

"Love you, Danno." And then she raced off with Hannah in tow.

"Love you too, monkey." Danny called after her.

Kono had taken that opportunity to wander toward the small group. "Is this an invite only party or can anyone join?"

Danny laughed. "You're always invited." She hugged him and he found himself feeling better than he had in a long time.

"Kamekona and Max are on their way. I think they're bringing Flippa and Jerry too." She added with a wry smile as she started toward the table with all the food.

Danny groaned. "Great, hide the tin foil and the left overs."

Steve blinked in surprise at the caustic remark. "I think Jerry gave up the tin foil hats."

"Yes, but they will now wrap all the left overs in foil and take them." Danny pressed his lips together in mock irritation. "Every time we have one of these? The extra food just ups and disappears. Maybe I'd like to take some with me?"

Steve shook his head. "You've been staying here, Danny. There's more than enough in the fridge." They started toward the large gathering and something occurred to Steve. " _Bromance_? What the hell is a bromance?"

Danny glanced over his shoulder. "I don't know, I heard it somewhere. I watch television."

"So do I. Pretty sure I've never heard that." Steve responded with a sigh. "Besides I don't think that's a technical term."

Before Danny could respond they were drawn into the festivities of the barbecue. Smiles and laughter permeated the air as much as the mouth-watering aroma of food. For now, the whole team was good…very good. But tomorrow was another day...

H50 H50

Danny didn't know what hauled him out of the depths of sleep. But something had him clutching his chest as panic tripped through his body in uncontrolled waves. He couldn't remember the dream, but he knew enough to know that it had scared the hell outta him. He'd felt confined and trapped…no way out and his hope was draining away as quickly as his energy. The worst part was, he was alone. Inside, Danny knew he was going to die and he was terrified that it would be entombed and alone...in the darkness.

The sweat ran down his face and quickly disappeared into his soaked t-shirt. He swung his legs over the edge of the couch and leaned forward. His previous injuries were only moderately painful at the moment. But his heart was slamming inside his chest like he'd run a marathon. Danny glanced up to make sure that Steve had not been awakened by his nightmare. The upstairs door to Steve's bedroom was slightly ajar and there was no light and no movement.

Danny swallowed his panic and reached down, turning on the television. He made sure it was faint and settled back in to watch some infomercials. He was definitely not going back to sleep tonight.

The Real End...

 **Author's Note:** _Okay so I wanted to play out the memory thing and I think that's where the third part of this series will focus. That and finding the last remaining man that tried to kill Steve and Danny. Thank you to everyone that took the time to read and review, I really appreciate it._

 **PLEASE REVIEW: And let me know, if you haven't already, if you're interested in one last story in this 'injured Danny' verse.**


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